Life with Lyrics Canadian style
by yellow blaze
Summary: Human AU Tired of being ignored, and discovering his crush is now dating someone else, Matthew becomes extremely depressed. That stupid assembly didn't help. Rated T for mentions of suicide. Not a death fic!
1. Songlyric Chapter Teardrops on my guitar

This fanfiction is written in companion with the following:

Life with Lyrics (Canada/Cuba)

Life with Lyrics- British Style (America/England)

Life with Lyrics- Lovino Style (S. Italy/Spain)

Life with Lyrics- AWESOME Style (Prussia/Austria)

Constructive Criticism welcome, k?

Disclaimer: Do not own Hetalia.

I have no clue what to call Cuba. Sorry I'm just picking a random name I know I saw used in another fic with Cuba in it.

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><p><em>Drew looks at meI fake a smile so he won't see/What I want and I need/And everything that we should be_

Matthew looked up from behind his textbook at the darker-skinned male that sat diagonal from him. He sighed softly. Matthew had a crush on Cruz for quite some time now, but the male seemed completely oblivious to it. Then again, most people didn't even realize Matthew was there half the time. The blonde hit his forehead against his desk in frustration. He tried to be louder at times, but then he was just confused for Alfred, so what was the point of that?

_I'll bet she's beautiful/That girl he talks about/And she's got everything/That I have to live without_

Looking up again, Matthew overheard Cruz talking to his friend who sat beside him. Matthew tilted his head slightly realizing they were talking over a date that Cruz had the night before. "Well. That settles that one." Matthew sighed again and leaned over his desk in frustration. _'I swear I'm cursed.'_ Matthew sighed heavily. Cruz heard the large sigh and turned his head back towards Matthew in confusion. Matthew's face turned red and he quickly hid behind his textbook again. When he peered up over it, Cruz had turned back to the conversation he was having._  
><em>  
><em>Drew talks to meI laugh 'cause it's just so funny/I can't even see/Anyone when he's with me_

The bell rang, much to Matthew's dismay. He walked out of the room slowly, dragging his feet to his next class. He wasn't fond of gym as much as his brother was, it'd be a little more enjoyable if the sports they played weren't contact sports, which people took way too seriously in his opinion. He always ended up with new bruises.

"Hey, wait up."

Matthew turned and blinked at Cruz, startled, "Eh…hello."

"Off to another class of tackle and bruise?" Cruz smiled, knowing he was headed towards the gym.

Matthew sighed and nodded, "I don't see why we can't play touch tackle or something. Does it have to be full out tackle?"

Cruz grinned and slapped him on the back, "So don't catch the football!"

"Then I don't get credit for class participation!" But Matthew laughed anyway. He half-wondered if the teacher would even notice if he wasn't participating at all. Probably not. Maybe he could sit this one out, "You had a date last night?" Matthew hadn't even realized he was saying it until it had already left his mouth and he was cursing mentally to himself._  
><em>  
><em>He says he's so in loveHe's finally got it right/I wonder if he knows/He's all I think about at night_

"Yeah. She asked me out during school yesterday." Cruz rubbed the back of his head, looking a little embarrassed. "She seems alright. Not like most of the girls around here who travel in groups at least."

Matthew nodded silently, "Eh well that's a good thing. At least she doesn't have a group of people she talks about every little thing with."

Cruz laughed, "Yeah. That's one way of looking at it. Oh hey, I have to go this way. My next class is in the library today."

"Eh? Oh, okay then. See you later." Matthew smiled and waved as his tall friend disappeared into the crowd of students around them. He sighed heavily and continued walking to gym class. "You're not even going to notice that I'm upset about it are you?" Matthew sighed and trudged to the changing room._  
><em>  
><em>He's the reason for the teardrops on my guitarThe only thing that keeps me wishing on a wishing star/He's the song in the car I keep singing/Don't know why I do_

Matthew stood by himself outside, shivering slightly in the cold. He rubbed his arms as he watched his classmates run around on the field outside. "Isn't it too cold to be outside anyway?" Matthew sighed heavily before joining his team as they ran by. Might as well try keeping warm somehow. He barely even paid attention to who was carrying the football. His gaze had drifted to the windows at the library where he could see Cruz sitting at a table. A moment later he felt himself slamming into the ground. Judging by the weight, someone had tackled him thinking he had the football. Matthew saw up hearing the cursed apology. Not bothering to respond, since the other had already gotten up in a hurry to catch the one who was actually carrying the football. Matthew just hugged his ribs and limped off the field._  
><em>  
><em>Drew walks by meCan he tell that I can't breathe?/And there he goes, so perfectly/The kind of flawless I wish I could be_

Matthew stalked through the hallway, still holding his hurting side, "This is exactly why I hate playing tackle football." He sighed to himself. He looked up noticing that Cruz was walking this way. Matthew watched him walk right by without even noticing the blonde. Turning slightly, Matthew tilted his head as Cruz walked up to a female at her locker and started talking to her. Matthew shook his head and turned back around. The nurse's office was sounding like the best spot to be for the time being. Especially since he did not want to be his next class since Cruz and his girlfriend were both in it._  
><em>  
><em>She better hold him tightGive him all her love/Look in those beautiful eyes/And know she's lucky 'cause_

Sitting in the nurse's office, Matthew waited while the nurse attempted to contact his parents, no matter how many times he told her they were at work right now and wouldn't be home to take the call. Matthew sighed heavily for what felt like the hundredth time that day. He collapsed backwards on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. He could feel the tears ebbing at the corners of his eyes and laid one arm across his eye to hide the tears. _'Stupid idiot for not noticing…stupid me for not being able to speak up.'_ Matthew ended up falling asleep, not even hearing the nurse pull the curtain around his bed._  
><em>  
><em>He's the reason for the teardrops on my guitarThe only thing that keeps me wishing on a wishing star  
>He's the song in the car I keep singingDon't know why I do_

"Well yeah they're at work right now, didn't he tell you?" Alfred's loud voice woke up Matthew from his sleep.

Matthew groaned slightly and attempted to roll over on his side but stopped and quickly moved to his back again.

The curtain was yanked open rather abruptly. "Hey dude, you're awake. Come on, man, I'll take you home!" Alfred grinned at him cheerfully.

Matthew glared at him in response but slowly got back up off the bed. Much to his dismay, Alfred insisted on Matthew leaning on him while he was walking. "I'm fine, Alfred." Matthew insisted.

"No you're not. You're going home. And if it's still hurting by tomorrow, you're going to the hospital." Alfred said cheerfully, keeping one arm around his brother's waist, while the other hand held on to Matthew's left hand. Matthew glared at Alfred, who had taken Matthew's left arm and put it around his neck and shoulders. "It's not my legs that are hurt you know." Matthew sulked.

"Yeah but ribs hurt when you get full-on tackled. Man, you musta really been into it today!" Alfred laughed, completely oblivious to his brother's pain.

"Shut up Alfred. I wasn't even carrying the football." Matthew grumbled.

_So I drive home alone/As I turn out the light/I'll put his picture down/And maybe get some sleep tonight_

Matthew laid on his bed at home, quietly thinking about the half day he had managed to stay in school this time. He was sure one of these times his parents were going to get a call about the many times he left early because of an injury during gym class or some other personal illness, but right now, he didn't care. Alfred had gone back to school after Matthew insisted he was just going to lay down and take a nap until their parents got home.

"No point in us both missing school." Matthew sighed and looked over at the wall. Hanging in his line of sight was a picture of Cruz and himself in middle school. Cruz had one arm around Matthew's shoulders and was grinning wildly at the camera, while Matthew was looking rather embarrassed at Cruz. "Ugh." Matthew forced himself out of bed and threw the picture behind his dresser and climbed back into bed._  
><em>  
><em>'Cuz he's the reason for the teardrops on my guitarThe only one who's got enough of me to break my heart/He's the song in the car I keep singing/Don't know why I do_

"One of these days. I'll get over it." Matthew grabbed his pillow and covered his face with it, feeling the familiar sting of tears at the edge of his eyes. "Forget this. I'm sleeping through the whole day if I have to, but I am not facing Alfred tonight." Matthew allowed sleep to come over him, his last thoughts remembering to every other time Alfred came home from school and his parents were home. If he saw Matthew he would instantly tell their parents whatever had happened during the day and why Matthew had to leave early.

Exhausted by the day's events, he didn't even hear his parents come home, or Alfred peering into the bedroom to tell him supper was ready._  
><em>  
><em>He's the time taken up but there's never enoughAnd he's all that I need to fall into/Drew looks at me/I fake a smile so he won't see_

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><p>Those people who have already read this may have noticed it's been editedupdated. Originally this chapter had him waking up the next morning at the end of this, but in order to match the other companion fanfics that would have put him a day ahead, so I took that part out. Hence why this chapter ended on the song lyric. Maybe at some point I'll rewrite this without the song lyrics =w=;


	2. Can't you notice this once?

Okay, just a forewarning, I had posted this fanfiction first, and I inadvertently goofed on the chapters. Matthew went through the day in one chapter because of the song, but the others took two chapters, so Matthew is technically a day ahead if I leave that second chapter in there. So I'm gonna remove it, now making this one the second chapter. So sorry if this confused anyone who is reading all four *but I don't think there is anyone, I think there's like one person reading three of the stories; and this isn't one of them.*

Warning: Suicide mentioned.

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><p>.<p>

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Matthew rolled himself out of bed the next morning. His injury still hurt, but he could deal with it. Better dealing with bruises than dealing with his brother wanting to escort him to the emergency room.

Not even bothering to change, because honestly no one would notice anyway, Matthew wandered down the stairs, running a hand through his hair in an attempt to semi-straighten his bedhead.

He discovered Alfred was bouncing around in the kitchen like a kid on sugar-high.

"Come on, Mattie! Let's go let's go!" Alfred's blue eyes locked on him instantly.

"Shut up…" Matthew said sleepily, still attempting to straighten his hair, "Since when are you so energetic in the morning…" It was one thing that annoyed him to no end. His brother could have endless energy, and he was struggling to just keep moving.

"Pulled an all-nighter, I got energy to spare!" Alfred pumped his fist in the air.

Matthew was surprised and NOT in a good way when his brother handed him pancakes. Sure he loved pancakes, especially with syrup…but not green pancakes. Pancakes weren't meant to be green. It looked like mold. Suppressing his gag reflex, Matthew quickly tossed the plate and…green…pancakes into the trashcan once his brother had turned around. One more morning without breakfast, who would notice he wasn't eating anyway?

"No problem! Let's go!" Alfred had bounced out of the room, leaving Matthew standing by himself, as usual.

"Yeah sure." Matthew sighed, grabbing his backpack and walking out of the house after his brother, who had already hurried out the door.

"You ate that fast." Alfred bounced up and down at the end of the sidewalk, glancing over his shoulder presumably when he heard Matthew approaching.

Matthew felt his cheeks flush slightly and he sped up his pace to make it past his brother, shrugging his shoulders as he went to make it seem like he was answering.

"Dude you must be super hungry in the morning~ You eat your breakfast before the rest of us even turn around!" Alfred's voice skipped along behind him, indicating the energy was showing no limits yet, "…you are eating it right?" And there was a definite change in voice.

"Yes Alfred." Matthew lied, hoping that Alfred would stop asking about it.

"Your ribs still hurt? I can still take you to the hospital!" Now really, how did he guess that Alfred would ask that?

"NO, AND NO." Matthew snapped. There was NO WAY he was going to the hospital. That would make his lack of eating very obvious.

"Aw, man, seriously. . ." Alfred pouted but thankfully stopped bothering him about it.

Matthew shook his head and kept walking in silence.

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Cruz grabbed a slice of toast and walked out the door, munching it on his way. He would have preferred a waffle or even a pancake, but he didn't have the time to make it this morning. Crunching on the slightly burnt bread, Cruz's thoughts drifted to the girlfriend he seemed to have grown overnight. The date proposal had come out of the blue, and Cruz half-wondered if she was playing a joke on him. Probably. But what did he care? It wasn't like he liked her. She probably had this huge idea he was completely smitten with her, and that was so far from the truth he couldn't even laugh at it.

Cruz shook his head and finished the toast, brushing his hands together to get rid of the crumbs. He knew Matthew had told him to stop being so cynical of other people, but it was just a habit he had. Most people judged him by his outer appearance, he had to admit to himself though that he did not have a friendly appearance, and for that, he reacted as such. He didn't even know _how_ Matthew had managed to convince the principal that Cruz was just taking what was being said the wrong way, but the little blonde had somehow managed to get him out of trouble. Somehow. That year was fun. Cruz grinned remembering the faces of the bullies he had scared away from Matthew. Their faces were hilarious. He wished he'd had a camera.

"I should remember to thank him for that year. I keep forgetting." Cruz hit his head with a sigh. He didn't know why he kept forgetting to tell his friend thank you, but somehow it kept slipping his mind. Didn't help that Matthew had this way of disappearing into crowds of people. If every person had a superpower, Matthew's was definitely invisibility, and now he sounded like that idiot brother of Matthew's. Cruz shook his head, trying to get the annoying face of Alfred out of it, "Damn moron. How can Matthew have such a messed up brother?" He would love spending more time with Matthew, if it wasn't for the fact that his brother almost _always_ showed up! Seriously, give the kid some alone time.

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Matthew found himself being dragged through the hall, almost immediately upon entering. He didn't even know what the hurry was about!

"Oh man, assembly! Hurry up Mattie!" Oh. That's what it was about.

"Slow down!" Matthew sighed, he must have missed the memo when he left early the day before, "You don't have to be in such a hurry!"

"I wanna get a good seat! It might be something totally awesome!" Alfred flashed a grin back at him.

"And it might be something totally boring." Matthew retorted, and it usually was. But nonetheless, he tried to keep up with Alfred's pace, but failed miserably. Alfred had way too much energy this morning.

Alfred had somehow found them two seats near the front and promptly sat down, pulling Matthew down in the seat beside him before beginning to , once again bounce up and down in his seat. "This is gonna be awesome! We get out of class! Hey if it takes long enough, maybe I won't have to worry about that test after all!"

"That's why you were up all night." Matthew moaned, slapping a hand to his forehead, "You went over to Arthur's house again, didn't you?" He felt so sorry for Arthur. Every night before a test, whether Alfred had the class with him or not, Alfred would sprint over to his house.

"Well yeah. He's got notes from every single day, well except for yesterday, but no big deal on that! I don't think we covered anything important." Alfred was saying, shrugging carelessly.

Matthew stared at him, "And didn't you get sent to the office yesterday during that class?"

"Well yeah. Meh. He got distracted by me and Gilbert having a totally fun time." Alfred gave Matthew a thumbs-up, to which his brother shook his head, "Hey! Arthur's sitting across the aisle from us!"

Matthew sighed heavily. There went Alfred's attention, completely gone to the green-eyed Englishman who was completely oblivious to Alfred trying to get his attention.

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Cruz stared at the memo that someone had put on his locker regarding some assembly for all sophomore students. Well that was fine…but…did they have to put it on _his_ locker? Cruz glared at it before stalking off towards the auditorium, he didn't have a reason to open his locker anyway.

Cruz looked around upon entering, discovering that the lights had been dimmed already, "Geez. Nothing like wanting to start early." Cruz wandered up a few rows before plopping down in a random seat that was located right next to the aisle. He could see his supposed girlfriend about two rows up, by the looks of it, flirting with the guy that was sitting next to her. Cruz suppressed a laugh and shook his head. Being cynical saved him a lot of trouble sometimes. If he wasn't cynical he would probably be upset about that. Now, however, he was going to be amused and watch the show play itself out.

Cruz glanced around, but didn't see Matthew anywhere. "He's probably with his idiot brother…" Cruz glanced around down front, and sure enough, saw two blonde heads sitting side by side, and that was unmistakably Matthew's hairstyle. And of course, his brother's stupid hairstyle next to it.

"Cruz, you're not sitting with me!"

Cruz looked up at the female who had appeared next to him, "No. No I'm not." He looked at her as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Come on, you gotta sit with me!" His 'girlfriend' tugged on his arm.

"Nope. I'm good right where I'm at. You have fun at your seat." Cruz shrugged her off.

"There's no room for me to sit here." She pouted.

"I'm well aware of that. That's why I said for you to have fun at _your_ seat." Cruz pointed to the one she had vacated to come back to him. "Go flirt with whats-his-name."

Obviously surprised she had been caught, judging by the shocked reaction and the sudden stepping back, it took her a moment to compose an answer, "I-I was just talking to him. I wasn't flirting!"

"You most certainly were. I could hear you laughing from here." Cruz said flatly, "And that takes a bit considering the noise level. And in any case, that whole dating thing was a joke to you, wasn't it? Sorry for ruining your fun." Cruz was quite pleased with himself to see the angry look pass over her face.

She stalked away without saying another word, confirming Cruz's suspicions.

"Ha. Go after a target who isn't cynical." Cruz grinned and watched her as she went right back to flirting with the boy who sat next to her.

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"Can I have your attention?" A male speaker tapped the microphone up on the stage.

Matthew sighed heavily, "You already got it by tapping on the microphone." His eyelids were beginning to feel heavy. It didn't help he had been straining his eyesight trying to find Cruz in the crowd. He was probably sitting with his girlfriend anyway.

"I understand some of you would much rather be in class right now…some of you would rather not be in school at all…some of you would do anything to get out of class…" The speaker started.

Matthew raised both eyebrows. It was never a good subject when the speaker started out with something like that. And he was sure it was going to get worse.

"And there is a minority of you…sitting in this room at this very moment…who wouldn't want to be here or anywhere at all."

Definitely worse. Matthew moaned and leaned on his armrest, he did not want to be lectured this early in the morning about things that had already crossed his mind, several times, and over the past couple months now. Last thing he needed to hear, was someone trying to prevent it.

"I know to many of you, this may seem like a big joke, but I assure you, this is no laughing matter. The teenage suicide rate has increased this past year, and there are many speakers going around to different schools to try and educate the student body to be more attentive of their surroundings."

For once, Alfred was completely quiet. Hopefully he wasn't taking this seriously. Matthew shrugged it off, Alfred always laughed at everything as a joke. Matthew was already well aware of the rate of suicide increasing, and couldn't be bothered to listen, instead, he looked around again, trying to see if he could find Cruz once more.

.

.

"Every single teenage suicide can be prevented. Look at your fellow students around you. How many of you talked to, on a daily basis? How many of the students around you, do you notice, but never bother to do anything about, walk by themselves to every class? Who don't have friends to talk to like you might?"

Cruz blinked. One. He could already think of one person without even turning around. Sure the kid had a few friends…maybe it was more like two. His idiot brother, and of course, himself. Cruz looked down at where Matthew's blonde hair was barely peeking above the chair, apparently he was sinking down in his seat. His invisibility trick at work maybe.

"Would you notice, if that one person you never spoke to, stopped coming to school? If they never showed up again to class, would you wonder why?"

Of COURSE he would notice it! How could he not notice that Matthew would stop coming to class? The thought of it actually made him feel sick. That or it was his now ex-girlfriend kissing the random guy. She clearly wasted no time. Thankfully, Cruz hadn't kissed her. The perfume alone made him gag. Cruz redirected his attention back to the speaker, now interested in what he was saying.

"How many of your classmates suffer in silence because they don't want to burden their troubles on someone else?"

There it was again. Something that sounded exactly like Matthew. Why was everything this guy was saying reminding him of Matthew?

"You alone, can make a difference in one student's life. Just by reaching out to them and saying hello, you could change their mind for one day."

'_I say hello to him…wait…did I talk to him yesterday? I don't think I did. Crap.'_ Cruz racked his brain trying to remember what he had been doing during class yesterday. _'Wait…he wasn't in school after gym. He wasn't in any of the classes after that, I never saw him. Did he get hurt again? Damn it.'_ Cruz made a mental note to talk to Matthew about what happened during gym the moment he saw the smaller blonde. Provided his idiot brother wasn't nearby. Too close to him, and Cruz was liable to punch Alfred's lights out.

"You can prevent acts of suicide just by keeping your eyes open and staying alert to your surroundings. Report any suspicious activity of another student to a teacher. If you see someone by themselves in the hall, say hello when you pass by. Don't just ignore them. Making them feel like they don't exist is the worst thing you can do to a person."

Cruz gave a slight motion with his hands. That just described Matthew's whole _life._ His invisibility trick was a curse! _'Mental note: talk to Matthew and make sure he isn't showing any other signs of this crap.'_

_._

_._

Matthew had never felt more relieved in his life to get out of that auditorium. _'Hopefully Alfred didn't take that seriously…'_

"Dude what was up with that speaker? Could he get any more pessimistic? Really! None of us are gonna go and off ourselves!" Alfred's loud voice was protesting behind him.

Judging by the reaction, most of the classmates agreed.

Matthew just shook his head. _'Right. Why was I even worried? Alfred wouldn't notice someone in depression if they were two feet in front of him. Or lived with him. Or was his damned twin brother.'_ Matthew hugged himself and stalked off towards his next class, feeling the tears burn at the edge of his eyes. _'Stupid stupid Alfred.'_

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><p><em>.<em>

_.  
><em>

So I know this story has like no reviews to it, which is funny because this is the one I like the most :P Probably because I'm such a fan of Canada/Cuba but oh well. If someone does read this…GIVE ME A SIGN. Please? TT_TT


	3. Delicate phone

Omg I got a sign. Actually I got 3! Yay! ILU ALL! So nothing much to say, moving on:

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><p>Matthew leaned up against the school building. He had been sitting outside ever since the assembly let out, and so far, no one missed him or came looking for him. Not that they would have thought to look outside anyway. He was currently sitting on the ground, holding his cell phone in one hand. That hadn't gone off either. So apparently nobody missed him. Surprise.<p>

Matthew leaned his head up against the wall and looked across the school yard. If he was counting the bells right, it was lunchtime. Not that he was hungry at all. He had eaten some crackers earlier. It was a little boring doing nothing all day. He knew he should have taken that as a reason to go back to class, but his motivation was nonexistent at the moment.

Matthew shook his head and jumped when his cell phone started going off. "Eh?" He quickly opened up the text to find the sender was not his brother, he was really expecting it to be, but Cruz. Well. That was a shock.

_**You are impossible to find. Where are you?**_

Matthew looked at the message blankly. How long had he been looking? He shrugged and typed in a vague answer: _** Somewhere you're not. Why?**_ He knew that probably came off as rude. Oh well. Already sent.

Matthew tossed the cell phone up in the air while waiting for a response. He wasn't tossing it very high, so it's not like it would break if the ground caught it instead of him. Hearing the ringtone go off again, Matthew caught the phone and opened up the new message.

_**Ouch. That was harsh. Seriously, I want to talk to you. Where the **** are you?**_

Matthew raised both eyebrows at the text message. That was a new one. Since when did he censor out words in the text message. He could probably guess what the word was supposed to be. Matthew rolled his eyes but sent a response: _**Talk to me about what? Can't you just text it?**_

He was a little curious about what Cruz wanted to talk to him about, but not curious enough to invite the Cuban to come sit with him. He'd have to explain why he was out here first.

_**No I can't just text it, otherwise I would. Seriously, I have looked everywhere I can think of, even the stupid library.**_

Matthew just laughed at that. Cruz hated going in there. _**Well then you're not thinking of the right place. Why can't you text it?**_

He shook his head at the thought of Cruz searching the school for him during lunch. It was almost like playing "Where's Waldo". Except it was "where's Matthew".

_**Because there's a character limit on these things. And obviously I'm not thinking of the right spot, otherwise I would have found you and wouldn't be texting you.**_

Matthew stared blankly at the message, "Eh? What?" _**I thought it was just one thing you wanted to talk about? How long is the sentence? And don't be too sure about that. Just because you might find me doesn't mean I want to talk.**_

Okay that was not going to get a good response. He meant to hit the backspace but hit the send by mistake. Matthew held the phone away from him, dreading the response he was going to get. Probably more censored words.

_**No it's not just one thing smart***. And what do you mean you don't want to talk? I don't care if you don't want to ******* talk. I said I need to talk to you **** it. Where the **** are you?**_

Character limit my foot. That was a lot of asterisks. It was actually rather funny. _**You use a lot of stars when you're texting. And it's not nice calling someone that. I meant what I said about not wanting to talk. If you have something to say then spell it out.**_

That was definitely not going to get a pleasant response. Aggravating Cruz made many students go to the nurse's office, and Matthew had the unpleasant feeling he might be one of them soon.

_**For your **** information, this phone censors the words out. What the ******* point of that is I will never know. And so help me when I do I find you, I am going to punch your face into the wall.**_

Matthew looked at the wall he was leaning up against with a frown. Hm. It was made of brick. That would hurt. _**That actually sounds rather like the phone company knew who they were selling a phone to. And don't you mean, 'if' you find me?**_

This was almost like a game. Different game now. Like cat and mouse. Except this cat had no interest in eating the mouse, just wanted to claw it up a bit. Great.

_**What the **** was that supposed to mean? My reputation isn't that ******* bad! And I mean WHEN.**_

More asterisks. Surprise surprise. _**I'm pretty sure it was self explanatory what it meant. You have a habit of breaking cell phones, and don't you stay with the same company? 'If' sounds like a better choice.**_

It felt like he was waving a red cloth to a bull with a glass wall in between them. And that glass would hurt when the bull broke it. So would those bricks. Cruz wasn't seriously going to punch his face into the wall, was he?

_**Listen you **** blonde. So help me when I ******* find you, I am going to **** your **** face into the **** wall. Where the **** are you?**_

Apparently it censors out words of extreme violence too. _**I hope the phone company doesn't charge you extra for threats. I am not telling you where I am. Go eat lunch with your girlfriend.**_ Oops. He hadn't meant to say that. Oh well.

_**It doesn't charge me extra for threats for your information. I swear when I find you I'm going to strangle you. And also, just FYI, I dumped her this morning.**_

That was fast. And apparently the phone doesn't censor out the word 'strangle'. _**Oh? That didn't last long. Should I get a rope or something so you can strangle me with that?**_

. . . . . .any response to that would probably not be safe.

_**No it didn't last long, I'm not a romantic type, never have been, never will be. AND WHAT THE **** WAS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?**_

Whoa. All caps. And asterisks. Now he was really ticked off. The non-romantic type sure fit him. For obvious reasons. _**Yeah I should have known that. You have this aura about you that says 'stay the **** away from me' –I censored that out for your delicate phone- and what are you referring to? I was merely trying to make your job of strangling me easier.**_

This was a screwed up game. No rules and no hold-backs. Especially nothing holding back fists belonging to Cruz. Man was he going to get it.

_**I do NOT have a **** delicate phone as you ******* put it. And so help me WHEN I do find you and you actually have a **** rope, I'm going to hit you with it.**_

His tune changed fast. _**Your phone censors words out. It's delicate. Now you're going to hit me with a rope? What happened to whatever you were doing to my face into the wall? Your phone censored that word out btw. No clue what you said.**_

_**I can't ******* help it that this **** phone censors my ******* words out! You are seriously ******* ******* me off now.**_

What was that supposed to be? His phone really was delicate. _**I got the gist of the first sentence, your second one lost something in the censorship. Maybe you should just spell the words out with hyphens or something.**_

He knew he was pushing it. A lot.

_**I-Am-Going-To-F-U-C-K-I-N-G-H-U-R-T-Y-O-U-WHEN-I-FINDYOU.**_

Okay then. It was better censored. _**With a rope.**_

His phone apparently wasn't too smart if it didn't censor even with hyphens.

_**With my fist**_

Ouch. The thought of that was a little frightening.

_**Well then. You're going to be searching for a looooong time, aren't you? Good luck with that.**_

Matthew shook his head with a sigh.

_**You make it sound as if you're not going to be texting me back.**_

Matthew nodded to himself. Brilliant logic there.

_**You're seriously not going to respond.**_

Matthew just hummed to himself, ignoring the messages that were popping up on his phone.

_****** you. I am going to ******* hurt you.**_

Matthew just nodded and stood up, brushing himself off. Time to go home. Staying here would prove to be hazardous to his physical health. He tilted his head slightly at seeing a teacher come around the corner of the school building. No big deal. They probably wouldn't even see him.

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><p>I'll admit: I was having way too much fun with the texting. XD Review me please~<p> 


	4. I cared

Okay I seriously love you guys. I got more reviews this time around and I'm up to 6 now, yay! Um…this is gonna make it a little awkward now. So hey, this chapter isn't going to be in Matthew's POV, this one is a Cruz-chapter. You'll find out why shortly. Sorry in advance. Also, timeskip to next day.

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><p>.<p>

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Cruz leaned up against the wall of the school, scowling at nothing in particular. How long did he have to wait for that blonde to get here? Normally he saw Matthew by now. It was almost time for the first bell to ring and still no sign of Matthew. His idiot brother had even shown up. Common sense should have kicked in by now to say that Matthew wasn't coming, but he hadn't missed school before…

Cruz looked over and saw Alfred talking to someone. Damn it. He was going to have to talk to that guy. Cruz sighed heavily in annoyance, but forced himself to walk over to Alfred, "Hey. Where's your brother at?"

Alfred just gave him a weird look, "I have no clue. He wasn't home this morning when I got up, I figured he had come to school already."

Cruz just stared right back. He wasn't at home this morning? What the heck time did this guy get up at? "What time did you get up?"

"Uh…maybe around 7 or so?" Alfred laughed it off, "Totally not sure on the time though, dude. I must have turned my alarm clock off during the night!"

Cruz almost punched Alfred just for having to hear his annoying loud laugh. He walked away instead without responding, cursing slightly. Okay so Matthew must have left before his brother got out of bed. That meant he would have gotten here before Cruz. Or he was skipping today. Why the heck would he do that?

He took out his cell phone and glared at the silent device. He had never gotten any responses to his messages yesterday, so he figured Matthew was now ignoring him for whatever reason the blonde had in his head. So he lost his temper while texting, it wasn't a good enough reason for him to be completely ignored now!

Cruz sighed heavily as the first bell rang. At least he had first class with Matthew, now he would know for sure whether or not Matthew was in school.

"_Attention all sophomore students. Please report to the auditorium at this time. This is a mandatory assembly. All sophomore students, report to the auditorium immediately."_

That was not a good sign. Either something really good happened, or this was going to the first ever grade-wide detention session in the history of the school. And it was more than likely going to be the second option. Cruz dragged his feet to the auditorium, dreading what this was going to be about. Of course it could just be a continuation of yesterday. Yeah that's probably it. Terrific.

Cruz sat in the third row from the front, looking around to see that folding chairs had been set up. How many people were coming? To his surprise, there were quite a few adults coming into the auditorium. Apparently their parents were invited to this. Oh great. It really was a continuation of yesterday, what else would it be? He didn't bother motioning to his parents, he could care less where they sat. Cruz turned back forward to the stage where a curtain had been pulled the whole way across. It hadn't been like that yesterday. Was there a school play or something?

The lights dimmed once and went back to normal brightness, indicating that whatever it was, it would be starting soon. Cruz slumped in his seat a little. Fortunately no one sat next to him, probably because he was giving off that aura or whatever-Matthew-called-it from the day before. The lights dimmed again and stayed dim this time. Cruz leaned on his armrest and waited for the assembly to start.

The speaker came out shortly after, and tapped the microphone. This time the speaker was the principal however. That did not bode well. The principal never spoke before school plays. And he never spoke at any assembly for that matter, unless something had happened. Good or bad. But this had a definite bad vibe feeling.

"Good morning, students… and parents. This is probably going to be a wake-up call for many of you." The principal started.

_Definitely not going to bode well. Wake-up calls usually don't signify anything good._

"Yesterday morning, there was an assembly for every grade in this school. This assembly was about teenage depression and suicide. Parents, you may or may not have heard about this from your child. This grade, that is sitting in front of me now, did not handle it very well. Many of you thought it was one big joke."

_Oh great. Now we're getting a lecture in front of our parents. _Cruz rolled his eyes at the thought.

"Many of you, didn't take what that speaker said to heart. You didn't think about the classmates around you that might react badly to it. Unfortunately, there were several of you who did."

Cruz heard a very loud hush fall through the auditorium. Any side talking that had been going on was instantly quiet at that remark. _This isn't going to go well._ He was half-tempted to cover his ears, and noticed there were a couple students already doing so.

"Yesterday, that guest speaker we had, told you to look around you, and asked you to think about that one person that may have been sitting near you. What you would think, if that person never came back to this school again."

_Oh shit._ Cruz felt as if his stomach had just dropped onto the floor below his chair. _I think I'm going home sick today._

"Now I am telling you to look around you. Look at everyone that is sitting around you. Do you notice anything wrong?"

Cruz shifted in his seat to look around at the students who were doing the same thing. He still didn't see Matthew, but it was a rather large auditorium. He could see Alfred from where he was sitting, but nothing seemed wrong, other than the pale faces of those around him. Cruz turned back front again, dreading whatever announcement was sure to follow this.

"This morning I received a phone call. It was not a pleasant phone call. It was one that not one person in this room would ever hope to receive in their entire lifetime. It was a phone call that cut short four of your classmates' lives."

_FOUR?_ Cruz suddenly felt the urge to be very sick. He heard someone near him say something that sounded like: 'oh my god.'

"And now…with the acceptance I have received from their parents, I would like you all to pay respect to the classmates that you couldn't while they were alive. Each of these students, wrote a note that was found with them, that said why they did what they did. I have the approval to read these notes and I fully intend to."

_I'm going to be so sick after this._

The principal pulled some papers out from the podium he was standing at and tapped them on the top of it. "The first letter reads as follows…"

As he was reading, a screen projector brought up a picture on the black curtain.

"My name is Arthur Kirkland. I am full well aware that by the time that someone reads this, I will no longer be here. I hear people all the time criticizing those of who live in depression saying 'we don't know how much we have to live for'. Maybe we don't know that, and maybe it's because we don't know it that we make such a drastic decision. My life was no hardship for me to survive through, and just because I had a certain person make fun of me almost every day wasn't the main reason for me to go through with this. It wasn't because of my family, who I love so much. It was because of what I went through every day at this school. Every day I see the same person smiling at some other person. Every day I try my best to focus on something else other than that one person. And every day I fail. Every day I felt myself fall deeper into the depression that I could not get out of. I refuse to be a hardship for my family or my friends. I will not let myself drag them down with me. I will leave this world and know that they will move on, and will be happy."

Cruz was just staring at the principal as he looked up. _This is a joke. A bad joke. Right?_

"End of letter." The principal said quietly.

Cruz shifted in his seat to look back at Alfred. The blonde's face was almost completely white. _Hm. He didn't take that well._ He looked back front again to where the principal was preparing to read the second letter.

"My name is Lovino Vargas."

There was a yelp from somewhere else in the auditorium, causing some people to shift in their seats, wondering where it had come from. The principal cleared his throat and continued on.

"I know that people took that assembly as a joke. But it really wasn't one. It wasn't even something to be laughed at. I don't know how people could laugh at that in the first place! But they did. That was all I heard today. Was laughter. That assembly was meant to wake us up. And it did to a few of us. And that few of us were the ones that everyone else was supposed to be watching for. What are we supposed to do? We were being laughed at and made fun of. Every day. This isn't something I can come to school for. This isn't worth living my life for. Not to be made fun of for something I can't control. I'm out of here. Maybe I can watch all of you and see if you all actually grow up or not. I hear adults saying they have a ray of sunshine in their lives, there was nothing but blue skies their entire life. I see a lot of gray clouds…and no sun. I don't get what the saying is supposed to mean exactly but…I'm pretty sure that life isn't supposed to have such a depressing outlook to it. I refuse to keep waking myself up every day to know that when I get to school, I will be laughed at for suffering from depression. They may not know who specifically we are, but we know. And it still hurts."

Cruz was positive he could hear someone crying, probably Lovino's parents, and he had a brother too, didn't he? Oh geez. Cruz shook his head. This was not a good morning.

"End of letter." The principal said quietly. He looked up at the curtain which now had Arthur's school photo and Lovino's school photo displayed. Both of them were smiling at the camera.

"My name is Matthew Williams."

_I knew this day was going to get really bad._ Cruz put a hand over his mouth to fight the urge of being sick. _DAMN IT._

"I'm sure whoever is reading this note probably has no idea who I even am. Because every day when I come to school, I don't exist. My classmates don't see me, if they hear my name being called during roll call; they think I'm a transfer student. My brother is probably the most popular athlete here, but nobody remembers his twin brother. Nobody cares."

_I cared._ Cruz just stared. _What am I? Chopped liver? _He could feel tears burning but ignored them.

"That assembly we had…I actually thought it was rather pointless. The only way people are going to learn is if they want to learn. If they have a reason to benefit from the experience, they will learn from it. Nobody had any reason to listen or pay attention to that speaker, so why would they? They'd rather laugh at it. I don't know what to do anymore. I tried to speak up more, tried to make friends…but I wound up getting hurt each time. So I'm going to do the rest of the world a favor, and leave it. I was an invisible person while I was alive, I might as well be a ghost and not exist at all. I'm sick of trying." The principal looked up once more, "End of letter."

Cruz turned in his seat to look back at Alfred, and noticed that he had disappeared from his seat at some point during that. _Not that I blame him. I'm rather tempted to leave as well._ He stared up at the picture of Matthew. It was his school photo, but Matthew wasn't smiling. At all. Not even a half an attempt of one. How long was he going through this without saying anything?

"The last letter I have, is not a suicide letter. It is one that one of your classmates wrote because he was dying of an illness. And has been for the past year. He passed away overnight, but wanted his mother to give this letter for his classmates to hear."

Cruz wasn't sure what to think of that one, and apparently the students sitting behind him didn't either.

"So, as written, unfortunately…I knew he hated me. Uhm…" The principal held the letter out at arm's length attempting to squint to read the handwriting.

Cruz raised both eyebrows. Who wrote this one?

"To my awesome friends and not so awesome classmates. This is Gilbert in case you couldn't tell. Yeah so I won't be coming to that stupid school anymore, permanent vacation for me! So I'm sure Mr. Principal already told you that I was sick for the past year, yada yada. Yeah I was. Nobody noticed, thankfully. I swear if one more person asked if I was sick I was going to punch them in the face. But hey, no depressing comments here. I had an awesome life, thanks to my friends who kept me laughing, and even though I have a school record a mile long, I'm not holding any grudges to any completely unawesome teachers who couldn't laugh a little. There are some serious stiffs around here! Anyway, I'm outta here. I'll see you all on the other side. My awesome self is going to sleep now, and I already know I'm not going to wake up. I'm so damn tired it's not even funny. So this is the awesome me, saying goodbye to you all. Later~!" The principal shook his head, "End of letter."

Cruz just sat in silence. _What kind of letter was that._ His gaze went back up to Matthew's picture. _Seriously? You're gone?_

"Your four classmates are gone from this world. And have left behind words for you to react on yourselves. This is your life to live. No one can make decisions for you. You react how you want to…but have the common decency to realize there are people around you who can be hurt by what you said." The principal stepped back from the podium and looked up at the four pictures.

Gilbert's picture wasn't a school photo, Cruz figured the albino hadn't bothered showing up for school photos. It just showed Gilbert sticking his tongue out at whoever had photographed him.

"You lost four classmates in one night. For that reason, school will be dismissed for the sophomore class for the duration of the day. There will however, be memorials in the lobby for each student. Feel free to sign your names and write a message if you want to." The principal walked off the stage.

Cruz just sat in silence as everyone slowly came out of their shock enough to start moving. He eventually dragged his feet out the lobby to where the memorials were and found the one for Matthew. Surprisingly, quite a few people had signed apologies on it already. Cruz wrote a small message in the bottom corner before laying down the marker.

_**Just wanted to say I loved you. –C**_

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><p>*cough* Ta-da. And there be the chapter. Told you I was sorry. *sets up brick wall* No flames please. *hides* Leave me a revieeeeew?<p> 


	5. Mission for Change, eh

So thank you to my wonderful reviewers, to the ones who flamed me: Pfffft. If you don't like my reading, you don't have to read it, k? K. If you all were upset that I "killed off multiple characters in the same chapter" keep reading. Oh and also, I know I didn't portray Alfred very well, did the best I could sorry. I tried to have it come across that he was in shock, but it didn't work so well. Sorry! I should have said that in Arthur's huh? Oh well. It's the thought that counts. Pft. Oh and this chapter is in italics because it's in the past. This is a memory. Already happened, k?

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_Matthew sat in the office. He had his chin cupped in his hands. Staring at the teacher who was staring at him._

"_No comment?" The teacher asked._

"_No." Matthew said flatly. "You just told me I failed the emotion portion of that test, which I knew already."_

"_And would like you to go to emotional therapy."_

"_I would rather not." Matthew sighed and leaned back in his chair, "Guidance never did much for me, why would this therapy?"_

"_I know you are having a hard time right now, what with being treated as though you don't exist, and that is something that the counselors will address."_

_Matthew blinked and sat up a little, "Eh…"_

"_The Mission for Change is strictly voluntary, however, either way I would want you to go to this emotional therapy. It's for your benefit."_

"_So either, I sign up for this mission and no one knows where I'm at…or I don't sign up for it, and I get shuttled off to this therapy anyway. That leaves me with no choice." Matthew sighed heavily._

_The teacher just watched Matthew in silence._

_Matthew sighed and brought the paper closer to him, "So what…I'm just going to be dead for a couple days time? Until whatever change you all are hoping for comes through?" Matthew hovered the pen over the paper._

"_That would be correct. Your parents will know you're alive but it's entirely up to them what to tell your brother."_

"_Eh. I could care less what they tell him." Matthew signed the paper with a sigh, "Fine. If I'm going to be stuck going either way, then I might as well do it in privacy." Even though Cruz is going to have a fit. Matthew watched as the teacher pushed a piece of notebook paper over, "What is this for?"_

"_Act as though this letter, is the last word your classmates will have of you. You can say what you want, with your parents' permission it will be read at the assembly tomorrow to your classmates."_

"_Oh. Well then." Matthew wrote out his letter before handing it to the teacher with a shrug._

"_That was fast." The teacher took the letter in surprise._

"_Eh, I knew what I wanted to say is all." Matthew slumped back in his chair again, "So when am I leaving?"_

"_There will be two ambulances coming to the school in a little over a half hour. The four of you will be leaving in those. Each of you will be covered with a white sheet in case any of your classmates would happen to see the ambulance. To keep your identity hidden." The teacher added._

"_Can I keep my phone?" Matthew asked._

"_As long as you don't answer any text messages except from your parents." The teacher looked over his shoulder before heading out the door._

"_No one else would send me a message." Matthew shrugged. Except Cruz. But he doesn't have a reason to text a dead person._

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><p>Yay~ Chapter all done! So leave me a review! Thank you thank you for those of you who came back to read the next chapter even though the last one was depressing. XD<p> 


	6. Ignoring You and Sleepy

Actually got somewhere with my cleaning spree, so I'm gonna try and update this story now to keep up with the others. This is gonna be split between Cruz and Matthew, I will do my best to make it as un-confusing as possible.

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Cruz looked out the window of the classroom, completely ignoring anything the teacher happened to be talking about at the current time. They just had their test on the subject last week, so it wasn't like another one would be coming up any time soon. Should probably take notes just in case though. Cruz looked at his blank notebook paper and sighed. Class had already been in session for twenty minutes and he hadn't written a single thing down. Oh well. His gaze went back out the window again. It's not like he wasn't the _only_ student not paying attention. At least he wasn't fast asleep like that annoying kid who was snoring behind him.

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Matthew felt his head drop slightly and snapped it back upwards, trying to remain awake while the slides continued moving. Why did they have to make this so boring? He couldn't focus. Shouldn't matter if he took a short nap. It's not like the teacher would notice, right? Matthew felt his head drop again and sighed. He was losing this battle for certain. Maybe just a short nap…Matthew closed his eyes and stopped listening to the voice that was speaking on the video that was currently being played. At the moment, all that mattered was getting a small nap in.

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Cruz sighed and picked up his pencil, attempting to copy down what the teacher had written on the board. Well. He would have…except now the teacher was erasing everything. So much for that. Cruz looked down at his paper and shrugged. He flipped it to another blank sheet and watched as the teacher began writing again. Why did they have to make this class so by-the-book? Could they at least _try_ and make learning a little more fun? Guess that would be impossible for the teachers, wouldn't it?

Cruz frowned as he felt his cell phone vibrating. No one that he knew of would be texting him at the moment. He peered at the phone under his desk out of curiosity and found his ex had sent him a text. Well. Not reading that. He deleted the message without bothering to open it and started copying down what was on the board again. She was only sitting three seats behind him, and was no doubt staring at him to see if he would respond to whatever she had said. '_Consider yourself ignored.'_

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Matthew opened his eyes, hearing quiet voices beside him. He looked over at Gilbert who apparently was in the process of trying to make Lovino laugh. It was working quite well actually. Arthur, however, did not approve of the disruption. Matthew smiled as Arthur told Gilbert to listen to what was on the slides. Wait. Was Arthur actually listening to all of this?

He realized he was being spoken to now and turned to Lovino with a blank expression.

"Are you listening to this?" Lovino was asking. Is he referring to the slides?

"Eh? Not really." Matthew stretched his arms out and slumped over the desk he was sitting at, "How are we supposed to talk to people about what we're feeling? Are we going to get counselor buddies or something when we get back to school?"

He hadn't meant for it to be funny, but apparently Gilbert thought it was because the albino was now cracking up laughing.

"If they give me a counselor buddy I will deck the guy over the head and stuff him in the closet." Gilbert smirked at Matthew in response.

Matthew thought about it for a moment before smiling. That sounded like the better option. "Better that than have them report every little thing to our parents."

"Exactly." Lovino, Arthur, and Gilbert all nodded in unison.

Matthew laughed at the three of them all speaking at the same time. This wouldn't be so bad after all. Maybe.

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Cruz felt his phone go off again and pulled it out once more. Another text from her. Surprise. Another text deleted. No surprise. Cruz pocketed the phone again and continued copying what the teacher was saying. How much of this was really necessary to write down? _'If she texts me one more time, so help me…'_ Cruz thought in annoyance. Right on cue. His phone was going off. Again. He pulled out the phone and glared at the text message this time, opening it only out of annoyance. _**Why are you ignoring me? Seriously how many texts do I have to send to your phone before you respond?**_

Well. She was certainly an idiot. Clearly no common sense. How many texts was she willing to send before she gave up would be the better question. And that would be one for her, not for him. Cruz deleted the message and went right back to what he had been doing. Apparently annoying her, because he heard the angry huff. Three seats back. And he could hear her. Cruz couldn't suppress the small smile. Serves her right. Matthew would probably be laughing at this right now.

And there went his phone. Again. Fourth time now. How many times do I have to be texted before I can yell at her in the middle of class? Cruz pulled out his phone again and looked at the text. _**You are SUCH a jerk. Seriously, answer my text!**_ There was nothing to answer. Hello? And calling him a jerk wasn't going to help her get a response. Cruz tapped the pencil on his desk for a minute, thinking about what to do about the non-stop texting he was getting. Nodding to himself, after coming up with an idea, Cruz leaned over his chair and waved the phone to her with a sarcastic smile. He dropped the phone into his bag that was on the floor and zipped the bag shut before going back to his note-writing. Judging by the laughs he heard, she was NOT happy. Good. Neither was he.

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><p>More Cruz than Matthew but hey, Matthew was sleeping. XD Give him a break. So leave me a review? 83 Also, someone asked this in their review, so Imma say it again, the reason this fic has one less chapter than the others, is because the first chapter was in time with song lyrics, so Matthew went through his 'first day' in one chapter, while the others took two chapters to go through the day, since they were not in time with lyrics. So this fic is probably always going to be one chapter behind.<p> 


	7. Not an update

Hey all. Sorry to get your hopes up, I was gonna update today, but I'm feeling extremely lousy, so pushing it back until tomorrow. Sorry sorry! Hopefully I'm not as sick/in pain tomorrow as I am today.


	8. Lunchtime

On we go! This one is probably going to be more Matthew than Cruz, because Cuba doesn't strike me as the talkative-while-eating type. :) I had more fun writing with Matthew this chapter anyway. XD

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><p>.<p>

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Cruz stood in line, slightly frustrated at the length of said line. Why people were always in such a hurry to stand in one spot was beyond his imagination. Not that that was saying much. His gaze shifted around the cafeteria to where students were mingling to their seats and noticed Roderich sat by himself in a corner. At least it would be quiet over there. That seemed like a good spot to sit. If he recalled correctly, Arthur would usually sit with Roderich. Well, he would normally sit with Matthew, but since neither of those two were here, that left him and Roderich. Might as well sit together.

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Matthew sighed as he exited the line. The food didn't seem to be anything he had ever seen before. He glanced around the room. Crap. He wasn't paying attention to where the other three had gone. Fortunately, Lovino was waving at him from the table. Matthew smiled in thanks and walked over to where they were sitting. He plopped down next to Arthur.

Arthur was in the process of asking Gilbert something, to which he didn't get a satisfactory response apparently, because the Englishman opted to take a bite of whatever that white lump was on the tray. That…was an interesting expression. Not very good apparently. Oh well. Rule out that one, then.

Matthew cut off a piece of whatever the meat was supposed to resemble and noticed that a small piece was missing from Gilbert's as well, but so was his napkin. And Gilbert wasn't touching anything on his tray. That did not bode well.

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Cruz sat down across from Roderich. The Austrian just looked at him with a confused expression. Okay so it was rather random to sit here. Deal with it.

"Didn't feel like sitting anywhere else." Cruz stated flatly, before turning his attention to the food in front of him. He was hungry. And as Matthew had pointed out before, he didn't waste time in talking that could be spent doing other things. During lunch, other things meant eating the food before it got cold.

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Matthew hesitated, hovering his fork over the meat on his tray. He noticed Arthur was now scrutinizing the bottle they had been handed.

"What is this?" Arthur asked, taking the cap off the bottle.

"Fruit juice?" Matthew suggested, to which he got a prompt rejection from Lovino, who had apparently already taken a swallow.

"No." Lovino stated.

Well if it's not fruit juice then what? It was a funny color. Matthew looked inside the bottle. It was kind of…like a thick pale yellow…looked like fruit juice. Certainly didn't smell like it. And whatever it was, caused the bottle to be warm to the touch. So…heated drink of some sort?

"Class will not resume until all trays are empty!"

Matthew looked up at the teacher in shock. Oh. Well. That meant he _had_ to eat everything. Terrific. Well. Study what you are going to eat first. I'm not getting food poisoning in this place. Matthew looked at the food on his tray with a blank stare. There wasn't much to study either.

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Cruz finished off his meal and took a swallow of the drink that had sat ignored the entire time. So he always saved the drink for last, if the food left a bad taste, at least he had something to wash it down with. Solid reasoning, he thought. Matthew always thought it was funny. Cruz sighed. This was ridiculous. He was missing that blonde more and more, and that stupid ex-girlfriend of his was NOT helping. Could she not get the hint that he wanted to be left alone?

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Matthew watched as Arthur cleared the food off his tray in record time. Apparently Alfred's eating skills had rubbed off on him. Lovino was catapulting food over his shoulder and…into the trashcan. How did he do that without turning around? Well. There's a skill that isn't marketable at all when you're looking for a job. Matthew looked down at the food on his tray again. He noticed Gilbert had yet to eat his as well, so he didn't feel rushed at least. But still…they wouldn't serve inedible food in a place like this right? Matthew looked at the bottle again. He peered closer and noticed the description on the bottle: _Chicken gravy. Pour over meat and vegetable on your tray to bring out a better flavor._

Well. That changed things a bit. Matthew looked at Arthur, Lovino, then back at the bottle again. They just drank a bottle of chicken gravy. That was just…ew. No wonder it was warm. Gravy was supposed to be warm.

Matthew looked up as Gilbert started laughing. Apparently he read the bottle, too. Arthur and Lovino weren't in their seats anymore. They must have went back to class.

"Oh this will make it much easier." Gilbert continued laughing.

Matthew nodded, giving a small smile, "I guess Arthur missed it while reading the ingredients…"

"Haha, sucks for him." Gilbert smirked. "Well then. I hope they know they just drank a bottle of gravy." Gilbert started eating the pork and potatoes, after dumping the gravy on top, "Much more edible."

"I wonder why we didn't get a drink?" Matthew looked around in confusion, pouring out his own gravy on the meat and potatoes. Now it resembled food. And tasted like food. Oh this was good after all. Probably would've tasted fine without the gravy…if he had salt or something.

"Maybe we get one back in the classroom. Like a bottle of water or something." Gilbert shrugged, still eating.

"Oh that could be." Matthew agreed, finishing off his meal. That wasn't so bad.

Matthew stood up and dropped his tray and bottle in the trash can. Gilbert was grinning, "I think we're gonna keep this a secret from them. They can continue to suffer through their 'awful' food."

Matthew smiled at Gilbert, "Provides entertainment." Sure it provided laughs. And funny facial expressions.

"Exactly!" Gilbert put his arm around Matthew, "And we need all the entertainment we can get!" Matthew smiled up at Gilbert. This was going to be fun!

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><p>Yay~ So…usually by the end of the second fic, the other two are pretty much well written as far as quotes go. =w= But it's not like they're going to completely ignore each other. Oh well. It's entertaining to add the thoughts in. XD Review?<p> 


	9. All but one blackmailed

So…sorry about lack of updates the last three days. First day I was distracted by finding a manga I've been looking for. So of course I read it in its entirety. XD Yesterday I was feeling understimulated *not enough sleep*, and today (Friday), fanfiction wouldn't let me sign in. Kept saying the connection timed out. So. No clue when this update is going to come up.

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Cruz was currently glaring at the empty seat in front of him that belonged…or used to belong to…Matthew. Maybe if he hadn't been so distracted with that annoying EX-girlfriend, who was probably filling up his inbox with text messages by now, he would have noticed Matthew's behavior change. Then again…maybe he had always been like that and Cruz just didn't notice. Well. That makes the feeling of guilt a lot worse. Cruz sighed and sunk in his seat a bit.

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Matthew hugged the pillow to his chest. He was sitting on his bed, watching Arthur's legs swing back and forth above him. The room setup wasn't all that bad. It reminded him of a prison, much like the cafeteria had though. At least they weren't wearing orange jumpsuits.

"Well. Apparently there is no class after lunch for us." Arthur's voice floated down from above him, sounding slightly muffled due to the mattress.

"Works for me. At least if we get sick from eating, it won't be in the middle of class." Lovino was obviously frustrated. Well after drinking a bottle of gravy, who could blame him?

Matthew saw the grin on Gilbert's face and suppressed a laugh. This wouldn't be so bad at all! Even if he had been slightly blackmailed into coming. That made him a little curious though. "How did the teachers approach you all?" He hugged the pillow tighter.

"A teacher practically dragged me off the roof and down to the office. Now that I think about it, he might have said the principal wanted to talk to me, but I was too busy protesting the whole way." Arthur's response was muffled once again, but the bitterness was present still.

"I was blackmailed." Lovino's response sounded rather bitter, too. "Stupid teacher said he'd report the failed emotional test or whatever to my parents. And I would get sent here anyway." Actually that sounded like exactly what _he_ was told.

Gilbert was laughing, apparently at Lovino's response. "I was approached normally, sorry. Gets me out of that boring school so what the heck do I care? I'll die an early death, big deal." Well. Lucky him.

"Eh…I was blackmailed too I suppose. If I didn't come they were going to report to my parents anyhow, so might as well come and save whatever dignity I had left." Matthew sighed heavily. He was doing that a lot lately.

"Dignity? That sounds like something that will be non-existent the instant we go back into school." Lovino scoffed. Okay good point.

"How are they planning on doing that?" Arthur spoke from above him again.

"Dunno. We just show up and go TA-DA." Gilbert started laughing again, "Oh man, can you see their faces~!" Gilbert continued laughing.

"Yeah…Alfred will probably strangle Matthew, if Cruz doesn't first, and if Cruz does, then he's going to strangle me." Arthur provided such a _nice_ mental picture.

"Ehhhhhh~!" Matthew whimpered at the thought that Arthur had now permanently imprinted into his mind.

"…Uh…I'm not really sure how Antonio would react. Or Feli." Lovino leaned over the side of the bed up at Gilbert, "What about you?"

"Hmmm…Antonio would probably hit us both over the head, scream something about us scaring the heck out of him, and then we would probably both get a hug hard enough to choke any remaining air out." Gilbert had moved to look down at Lovino.

"And my stupid brother will be pitching a fit." Feliciano and Alfred both will be.

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><p>Okay this chapter was much shorter compared to others, sorry about that. Ehm…leave me a review? 8D<p>

omg, that was really short. x_x I'll make up for it next chapter! I'm sorrrrryyyyyy!


	10. Spied on? and Get glasses

Ughhh. Sorry about lack of updates the last several days. I got distracted by Sims 3. *bought the new expansion pack* But as promised, I will do my best to make sure this chapter is a little longer! By the way, I have been getting some questions as to when the four who are "dead" are going back to school, just so those wondering know, it's been close to a day and a half since the principal held that assembly, so they're not returning as of yet.

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><p>.<p>

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Matthew glanced at his watch before looking back up at the teacher. This class couldn't possibly drag on any longer. According to his watch he'd only been in here for twenty minutes. But the way the teacher was talking, it felt as if it was an eternity! _'I miss school already.'_ Matthew slumped in his seat a bit. Unfortunately none of the other three were even in this room with him, which meant he had to suffer alone.

Apparently the scores on those stupid tests had actually meant something and sent them to different classes to get help on emotional issues they might be having. Might. Translation: you need serious mental help so we're going to stick you in a class that's going to bore you to death. Or a class where the teacher feels so sorry for you it's practically radiating from her body. Or if you're lucky, you'll be in a class where both apply. Unfortunately, this was both.

Matthew leaned over the desk with a large sigh. This wasn't going to end anytime soon either. So the teacher talked on.

"I know for some of you this is probably sounding very boring, but you're here because you needed help."

Whether it was by choice or not. Matthew rolled his eyes.

"Most everyone sitting here in this classroom has outwardly shown signs of depression, but not to the notice of your classmates or friends."

Then how did you know we showed signs of depression? Were we being spied on?

"So we are here to teach you to fight those feelings from consuming you."

Oh great. Gilbert would be on the floor laughing right about now.

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Cruz wandered through the park, looking at the ice cream stand that he usually stopped at after school. It'd probably help cheer him up right about now. But on the other hand, he was usually with Matthew when he was here, too. Ugh. Didn't need that memory right now. Cruz kept walking, ignoring the familiar music that was playing from the stand. Keep going, keep going.

"Hey punk!"

Oh great. Someone wanted a fight. Of all the stupid days to pick a fight, it had to be today. Cruz turned and glared at the male behind him, "What?"

"My girl has been texting you all day, why don't you answer your stupid phone?"

"Well if she's _your_ girl, then tell her to stop texting me." Cruz said flatly before walking away again. Now really, if she had a boyfriend, then what was all those text messages for anyway? She needs to get a life.

"She happens to like you, you know." The male snapped, "Pay attention and quit walking away!"

"Would. You. Shut. Up." Cruz turned his head to glare at the male who was now following him, "I cannot stand people like her, or people who like someone like her."

"What do you mean 'like her'? There's nothing wrong with her!"

Cruz just stared at him in silence. Nothing wrong with her. Right. "Let me know when you get glasses." Cruz shook his head and continued walking. Matthew would probably be laughing right now.

"How does she even like you? You're such a jerk!"

Cruz rolled his eyes but didn't bother responding. It wouldn't matter anyhow. This guy obviously wouldn't listen.

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Matthew stared at the wall blankly. This really wasn't helping. Here the teacher was supposed to be helping them and it was making the feeling worse. He couldn't help but wonder if the others were having as much "fun" as he was.

"I'm sure you all would much rather be at your homes, with your friends, or at school… but remember why you are here to begin with. Each of you chose to come here because you wanted these feelings to go away."

Some of them were blackmailed into coming. Matthew looked around at the other students. Some of them were staring intently at the teacher…counselor…whatever she was. There was one who was sleeping. And some looked like they would _much_ rather be somewhere else.

"Some of you may not be here all that long, there are those of you sitting in this classroom who are here until your classmates recognize there was a problem with the way they were behaving."

That would take a long time. Which meant he was stuck here listening to this. Well that was motivating.

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><p>This chapter ended up a little longer at least. Like by 100 words. =_= Sorry. Leave me a review? n_n<p> 


	11. Suppertime! You never had to answer

So continuing on, once again apologizing for shortness of last chapter. X.x Let's try for a longer one again~ XD

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><p>.<p>

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Matthew tilted his head slightly, putting his objectiveness aside, he supposed listening to this counselor…teacher…eh, whichever, wasn't all that bad. His purple eyes remained focused on the counselor as she continued on with her version of therapy. If that was what she was aiming for, she was missing the subject entirely, but he was learning something anyway.

Lesson #1 Learned: Next time one of those tests come around, LIE.

Lesson #2 Learned: Next time someone ignores you, don't take it personally. They just need glasses.

Lesson #3 Learned: Hit Alfred over the back of the head next time he goes off on one of his "I'm a hero" rants.

Okay so that last one had nothing whatsoever to do with this, but he needed to start expressing himself more, right?

Matthew stretched his legs out in front of him and sat up a little straighter in the seat. How long had he been in this class anyway? It seemed like it was going on and on…and his stomach was growling. Hopefully the supper will be a little more edible looking than the lunch, even if it did taste fine with the gravy. It could have gotten more points in the presentation department. Ice cream would taste really good right now. Matthew tilted his head. _'I wonder if Cruz stopped by the ice cream stand on the way home today…'_ He sighed.

Matthew blinked as he realized most of the students were standing up. Eh? Is class over now?

"I hope you all have a good supper and I'll see you tomorrow!" Oh. So class was over. Supper!

Matthew quickly stood up and followed the others out into the hallway, not even listening to the complaints that were being muttered about the counselor. Please let there be ice cream with supper. Please.

He followed the line into the cafeteria and peered at the trays that were being handed out. Okay, so at least it looked more edible than lunch had. Some kind of sandwich. And soup it looked like. Matthew took a tray and sat down at an empty table in the back corner. Picking up the bottle, he examined the label before deciding that it was a drink this time before unscrewing the cap. _'I wonder when the others are coming down?'_ Matthew took a swallow and winced at the flavor. Bleah! What was this?

He held the bottle at arm's length away from him and looked at the label again. "Mixed fruit juice? Not any fruit I've ever tasted!" Matthew sighed and put the bottle back on the tray before picking up the top bun of his sandwich.

Alfred would be protesting at the atrocity of this burger-thing on Matthew's plate. There was no way this was supposed to be a burger, right? Oh well. At least they gave out condiment packets.

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Cruz finished off his water in one gulp and leaned up against the wall while sitting on his bed. Okay, so the day could have gone a lot better. He took out his cell phone and glared at it. Fortunately it was easy to delete multiple messages off his cell phone, though he had left Matthew's on there, for what purpose, he had no clue. Cruz sighed and began opening up random windows.

There's a way to block numbers from here right? Does that work for text messaging? He sighed again before tossing the phone onto his dresser. He could always just leave it at home, too. There really wasn't anyone else _to_ text besides Matthew, and somehow the thought of a ghost answering the phone just was not helping.

Cruz laid down and stared up at the ceiling. At what point in his life was he supposed to move on from this? Right now it didn't seem like it would be happening any time soon. This felt like a screwed-up dream. Screwed-up nightmare. Something. Either way, not real. He rolled over onto his side and pulled the blanket over his head. Screw this. Maybe some sleep would help him look at things in a different perspective.

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Matthew took a bite of the burger, while watching as other people, most were around his age, some looked like they should be in middle school, stepped out of line. Still no sign of Gilbert, Arthur, or Lovino. Correction, there's Gilbert. Matthew waved a bit as the albino turned in his direction. Definitely no mistaking that grin. His class must not have been all that bad.

"Yo, Mattie~!" Gilbert sat down next to him, still grinning, at least until he looked at the tray, "What is this supposed to be?"

"Burger. And some kind of soup. Haven't tried it yet. The burger isn't half bad if you drown it in ketchup and mustard." Matthew commented, "How was your last class?"

Gilbert burst out laughing, "Oh man that was great. I totally made them speechless." Gilbert began dumping packets of ketchup on the burger but left the mustard right where it was.

"Eh? What happened?" Matthew took a bite of his burger…thing, and watched Gilbert in curiosity.

"Somehow we got on the subject of my family, no clue how that happened, but whatever, so I told them I only lived with mein mutti, my mother, sorry." Gilbert shrugged, correcting his german, even though Matthew knew what he had meant. German wasn't that far off from English. "So they were asking about my dad if I had ever met him…crap like that."

"Have you?" Matthew asked, tilting his head slightly. He hadn't known Gilbert didn't live with his father, then again, he had hardly ever spoken to Gilbert before this.

"Technically. I saw him, didn't introduce myself. Anyway, told the stupid idiot, teacher, exactly what I just told you and that starting a conversation with: 'I'm your dying son' somehow didn't appeal to me. Abbreviated that a bit." Gilbert added, stirring his soup.

Matthew just about choked on his burger. Fortunately Gilbert noticed and started hitting him on the back.

"Dude, breathe!" Gilbert burst out laughing again. How could he even _laugh_? That wasn't funny!

"Dying?" Matthew repeated, staring at Gilbert after recovering.

"Isn't that what I said?" Gilbert raised both eyebrows and returned the stare.

"Well yeah it's just…I wouldn't know it from your personality…you're…hyper." Matthew could have easily come up with a better word than hyper, it's just that one seemed the less likely to get a retort.

"Hyper makes me sound like a schoolgirl who's crushing on someone." Gilbert scoffed, taking a sip of the soup and quickly putting his spoon down. "Oh mein gott, don't eat that." He pointed to the soup, "Just don't." Gilbert shook his head and frowned at the burger, "You sure this is safe?"

"Tastes fine to me." Matthew took another bite, thinking about what was said, "Ehm…pardon if this is sensitive, what are you dying of?" He quickly swallowed so he wasn't talking with a mouthful and just about choked again.

"Dude. Chew first. Then swallow. I'm starting to think you're doing that on purpose. And it's not sensitive. I don't even remember the name or whatever they said. All I know is, the only way I would ever have a chance of surviving is if my birth-dad was able to give me a transfusion. And considering I haven't seen him, except for once, that is so not happening." Gilbert took a small bite of the burger. "Meh. Not that bad."

"When did you last see him?" Matthew took an experimental sip of the soup, deciding not to respond to the comment of choking on purpose.

"Hmmm…two days ago?" Gilbert thought about it, "I think." He looked around the cafeteria, "Where's Arthur and Lovi?"

"Two days? Why didn't you just…never mind. You already said why." Matthew sighed heavily.

"Ja." Gilbert smirked, "If I die, then so be it. Dead is dead."

"Technically we are dead." Matthew said flatly.

"Well yeah. But dead for real." Gilbert sighed, "Besides, why would Vati help a son he hasn't seen for like 16 years?"

"Isn't that sort of what…dads are supposed to do?" Matthew looked at him blankly.

"I wouldn't know." Gilbert returned the stare.

"Yeah well, neither would I. I don't talk to mine all that much even though we live in the same house." Matthew dunked his burger in the soup and took a bite, "Eh, that helped."

"Did it?" Gilbert dunked his burger as well, "Oh, there's Arthur." He waved his hand around to catch the Englishman's attention.

"I wonder what Cruz is doing." Matthew glanced at his watch, "Probably sleeping."

"No kidding. Talk about a late supper, geez." Gilbert grumbled as Arthur sat down across from him.

"Well." Arthur shook his head before looking at the tray, "Burger and soup? If you can call it that." He lifted the top bun and raised an eyebrow.

"Alfred wouldn't approve of it at all." Matthew laughed.

"No he wouldn't. He'd be standing up there raising a fit." Arthur sighed before dropping the bun back on top, "Lovino's coming."

"Oh, were you two in the same class?" Matthew blinked in surprise.

"Yes." Arthur looked at him in confusion, "Weren't you two?"

"Nope. I was in a class of four, including the idiot teacher." Gilbert took a bite of his burger.

Matthew looked at Gilbert for a moment, "Eh. I was in a normal-sized class."

"What, was my class the only small one? Geeeez." Gilbert shrugged it off.

Matthew looked up as Lovino sat down across from him, "Hello."

"Hi." Lovino glared at the burger, "Can't they serve pasta, or something." He dumped the ketchup on top of the burger with a sigh.

"You want my ketchup?" Arthur asked of Lovino.

That was nice of him. Considering the burger needs serious help. Matthew finished off the burger and drank the rest of his soup in two gulps.

"I swear you're trying it on purpose." Gilbert commented, smirking slightly at Matthew.

Matthew glared at him, "I am not. Shut up."

Arthur and Lovino both stared at the two.

"Trying what?" Arthur tilted his head.

"Nothing." Matthew kicked Gilbert's leg underneath the table to keep him from talking.

"Ow!" Gilbert winced and rubbed his leg, "That hurt!"

Matthew only glared at him. He shook his head and picked up the bottle of the fruit juice, forcing himself to swallow the rest of it.

"Well. This must be more edible than lunch if you're done already." Arthur commented before taking a bite of his plain burger. Surprisingly…he didn't gag on it.

Gilbert exchanged glances with Matthew. But the albino made no comment and instead finished off his own sandwich and began stirring the soup again.

Matthew tilted his head suddenly thinking, "Are you related to Ludwig?" He looked at Gilbert. He didn't know why he had suddenly thought of the blonde german, but somehow he could see it if they were releated. They both showed almost no expression at all, well…as long as Gilbert was quiet.

Gilbert just stared at Matthew, "He's not my brother if that's what you're asking."

"You both speak german though, I'm amazed you're not friends." Lovino spoke up in comment.

"Ja…no way. He's a stiff. He needs to have a little more fun." Gilbert waved a hand around carelessly.

I wonder if that's why Gilbert behaves the way he does. He doesn't have much time to live, so he's putting as much life as he can into it? It would make sense. But still…I wonder if he's just afraid his father is going to say no? Matthew tilted his head, thinking. It was a possibility after all.

Gilbert must have been able to read his mind because he smacked Matthew on the back of the head.

"Ow!" Matthew winced, rubbing the back of his head, "What was that for?"

"You know what it was for." Gilbert said flatly, finishing his drink. Didn't even see him open the bottle. "Going back to our wonderful bedroom, see you two back there." Gilbert waved at Arthur and Lovino before forcibly dragging Matthew out of the room, much to the blonde's dismay.

"What? What did I say?" Matthew protested, leaving behind a much bewildered Arthur and Lovino.

"Just shut up." Gilbert said through gritted teeth, "I am not sitting there while you go off on one of your trains of thought that always seem to get you to ask a question that is really uncomfortable to answer."

"Eh? Uncomfortable?" Matthew asked, hurrying to keep up with him. He wasn't good at sports, and he most certainly was not good at running/fast-walking.

"Ja. How would you feel if you were in my position, constantly being asked about a family that you have no clue about? The only family member I have is my mother." Gilbert glared at Matthew before stalking into their room.

"Ehhh…sorry." Matthew winced. He should have realized by the questions that he was making Gilbert uncomfortable…but then…he didn't _have_ to answer!

Gilbert climbed up onto his bunk and laid down. "Whatever. Just don't bring up the subject."

Matthew nodded silently before climbing onto his own bed. He shifted around a bit before letting out a frustrated sigh. "How are we supposed to sleep on such a lumpy mattress?" Matthew grumbled.

"Close your eyes, and count sheep. Or think of a tall, dark…Cuban." Gilbert looked over to see what the blonde's response would be.

Matthew looked over at Gilbert with a glare. And he was being accused of bringing up subjects that Gilbert didn't want to talk about? That just crossed the line a bit. "Shut. Up." Matthew hissed.

"You asked. I was trying to help." Gilbert rolled over onto his stomach and smirked at Matthew, "And you know, if looks could kill you could've spared me like two months. Thanks." Gilbert grinned.

Matthew felt all the color drain from his face and gaped at Gilbert in disbelief. "Two months?" Matthew asked.

"Isn't that what I said?" Gilbert raised both eyebrows again. Does this guy have some emotional issue or something?

_Isn't that why you're all here?_

Oh the voice was back. Terrific. Matthew grabbed his pillow and let out a frustrated scream into it.

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><p>Oh this chapter is much longer. :D Review~<p> 


	12. Leave me alone and just want sleep

Well despite the small fanbase, this story has more reviews now, yay~ :D Thank you to the readers/reviewers who keep coming back when I add a new chapter~!

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><p>.<p>

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Matthew tossed and turned on his mattress, constantly kept awake by the voice that kept speaking in the back of his mind whenever he felt close to falling asleep. He forced one eye open to look around him, but couldn't see much of anything, so he shifted under the blankets and tried to go to sleep once more.

What time was it anyway? Hopefully not anywhere close to being morning. Matthew put the pillow over his head. He was about ready to cry from being so tired but unable to sleep. _'What I wouldn't give to be __home__.' _Matthew tightened his grip on the pillow. Maybe he could just pass out from lack of oxygen. State of unconsciousness works for sleep, right? Either way he wouldn't be awake at least.

_It's your fault you're not home anyway._

Matthew let out a sigh of frustration. He knew this already. This voice was just being annoying and repeating it. Over. And. Over.

"_RISE AND SHINE! IT'S TIME TO GET UP FOR YOUR MORNING CLASSES AND BREAKFAST!"_

You have GOT to be kidding me. Matthew opened both eyes. Please let that have been a nightmare. Judging by the cursing from Gilbert, and the movement above him, it was not. He had been awake the entire night. Great.

"_RISE AND SHINE!" *_CLICK*

The movement above him stilled as Arthur spoke, "Is it morning already?"

"Nein. Four o'clock hardly counts as morning." Gilbert grumbled from his bed. Four o'clock? It was four o'clock in the morning? He could have gotten maybe two hours of sleep if they had let them sleep until a normal time!

_You would have been awake through those two hours anyway._

OH SHUT UP! Matthew hugged the pillow tighter, rolling over to face the wall instead of getting up.

"Hey, Matthew. Wake up!" Arthur called.

"No." Matthew muttered, moving down further under the blankets. "It's not time to get up until the sun is in the sky."

"I'm all for that." Gilbert raised his hand. He wasn't sure if Gilbert was responding to him or to something that Lovino had said. He thought he heard the Italian speaking, but couldn't make out what was being said from underneath the pillow and blankets.

Arthur sighed, "You know if we all don't get up and moving they're probably going to come in here and force us up."

"I'm up." Lovino's voice suddenly spoke up. Well isn't that just nice for you? Matthew closed his eyes and tried to block out the noise.

"Matthew?" Arthur asked, his voice now closer than it had been. Apparently he had gotten out of bed.

"Go away." Matthew grumbled, refusing to budge.

"He is clearly not a morning person." Gilbert spoke up, "And neither am I."

"You're awake though." Lovino commented.

"Yeah. And I've also _been_ awake. I couldn't sleep." Well at least Matthew wasn't the only one who didn't get sleep. "I'm gonna fall asleep during class."

Arthur gently shook Matthew, "Come on, time to wake up."

"No." Matthew pulled away from Arthur's hand and moved closer to the wall.

Arthur sighed heavily, "We'll catch up with you two!"

"See you later then." Gilbert responded.

Arthur sat on the edge of Matthew's bed, "Didn't sleep well?"

"That would require having slept. I was awake all night." Matthew sighed heavily, but he rolled over onto his back and blinked up at Arthur.

"All night?" Arthur looked at him worried, "Are you going to be all right?"

"Probably not." Matthew sighed heavily. He really felt like curling up into a ball and crying. So tired.

"If you need to, you can always feign being sick and go to the nurse station. I was down there yesterday after lunch and the nurse let me and Lovino sleep in there." Arthur smiled.

Matthew nodded quietly, "Eh…I'm getting up."

"…You won't have to fake sick that much. You really don't look good." Arthur commented.

"Thanks. That was about as motivating as Alfred." Matthew muttered. And it really was.

"I try." Arthur laughed, getting up, "I at least know I can't cook and don't attempt to."

"This is true." Matthew smiled. But he would probably take Alfred's cooking every morning if it meant he could just go home.

Matthew followed along beside Arthur, both of them headed down the hall, deciding against changing. "It's not like anyone is going to care." Arthur shrugged.

Matthew smiled at Arthur. At least he had someone to stay beside. At least until classes started. No doubt they were in separate rooms.

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Cruz rolled over and slammed his fist into his alarm clock. Glaring at the now slightly-dented device, he sat up and attempted to move himself out of bed but the floor was cold. Cruz pulled a pair of slippers over. Sometimes he really wished he had carpeting in his room. He shuffled over to his dresser and discovered a picture frame on the floor. It must have fallen off the day before when he slammed one of the drawers shut.

He picked up the picture and gazed at it. It had been taken in their freshman year of school, shortly after Cruz discovered that Matthew had somehow talked him out of major trouble with the principal. He smiled slightly at his own grinning face. He had an arm around Matthew, who wasn't even looking at the camera and was instead looking at Cruz rather embarrassed. Cruz sighed heavily. That little blonde who always had an earful to say when he lost his temper at someone, couldn't even say something about how upset he was?

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Matthew stood in line behind Arthur, trying hard to not fall asleep while standing up. But he was failing miserably. Matthew jerked his head up when he realized it had dropped a bit and shook his head in frustration. At this rate he was going to fall asleep before breakfast was even over.

He blinked when Arthur turned around with a tray and looked at Matthew, rolling his eyes slightly at the breakfast he had been handed. Matthew smiled and took the tray he was offered. What he wouldn't give for pancakes and syrup right now. But that was probably too much to hope for. Matthew sighed and followed Arthur out into the dining area. He could feel his eyes closing again. This was not going to work. Maybe he could just skip the first class altogether and just head for the nurse station.

"Looks like they're in the usual back corner." Arthur commented.

"Right behind you." Matthew said, snapping out of his sleepy daze once more. He followed along behind Arthur as they made their way back to the corner.

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Cruz rummaged through the fridge, attempting to find something. He ended up just closing the fridge door and grabbing a bottle of pancake mix from the counter. Cruz started up the stovetop and made the pancake mix in a bowl nearby. Hopefully today would go better than yesterday. As long as that annoying girl left him alone today. Her and her friends. Cruz shook his head and flipped the pancake over in the pan.

Sitting down at the table, Cruz pulled the bottle of syrup over and drowned the pancakes. Only bad part of having pancakes for breakfast, he was reminded about Matthew even more so. Cruz shook his head again and continued eating.

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Matthew watched as Arthur sat down next to Lovino, so he crossed over and walked down the length of the table to sit next to where Gilbert was. Plopping down next to the albino, he blinked when he saw that Lovino's face had reddened.

"Is something wrong?" Matthew asked, tilting his head slightly. He knew they had been talking, but couldn't pay attention to the words that were being said with how tired he was at the moment.

"No." Lovino shook his head and proceeded to keep stabbing his sausage.

Matthew shook his head but slowly started eating. His eyes closed and he could feel his head dropping a couple times.

"Hey by the way, before you destroy the sausage, if you don't want it, gimme." Gilbert's voice snapped him out of his daze again.

Lovino glared but offered the sausage over to Gilbert.

"Is that a German thing? You like sausage?" Matthew asked, looking at Gilbert. If he had been more awake, he probably would have remembered what Gilbert had said last night about uncomfortable questions, but he was way out of it.

"As you put it, 'Germans' tend to call it wurst. And there is a slight difference, just so you know, I just happen to like sausage." Gilbert smiled.

Matthew just nodded and went back to eating, not even noticing the smile was rather unfriendly. Feels like I'm going to fall asleep soon. Matthew leaned to one side slightly, still eating even though he had closed his eyes again.

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Cruz finished eating the pancakes and picked up his schoolbag before trading out his slippers for flip-flops. One thing he liked about warm weather, he didn't have to worry about his feet freezing. He stepped outside, wandering down the sidewalk before even taking notice to the car sitting in the driveway. Normally his parents were up by this time, but oh well, Cruz didn't feel like turning back around.

He continued heading down the sidewalk, trying to keep his mind from straying down memory lane too much. He didn't mind remembering the past, it was someone in the past. And he wasn't up to admitting that it was possible Matthew had quite openly shown that there was a problem, and Cruz just hadn't noticed. He sighed again. This day was not turning out well. Here's hoping things pick up…

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Matthew threw his tray in the trash and wandered sleepily out of the lunchroom. He could barely keep his eyes open. How was he supposed to stay awake during class? He looked at the paper he was handed the day before and looked at the room number for a moment, trying to read the number but it kept going in and out of focus.

Finally making out the number 18, Matthew realized he had headed in the wrong direction and turned around, going the opposite direction. This was going to take some time getting used to. Matthew shook his head and found himself falling over in one direction. This was going to be a long day.

"Nurse station is the other way."

Matthew blinked up at the teacher who was standing next to him, "I'm okay…" He waved a hand before tilting in the other direction.

"No you're not." The teacher dragged Matthew down the hallway, "Let's go."

"Yes, sir." Matthew just allowed himself to be dragged, stumbling along behind him, but not paying attention to where they were going at all. _'I'm so tired…'_ Matthew thought he saw Arthur head into a classroom but had no idea quite honestly, the door shut before he could focus his gaze on it.

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Cruz made his way through the crowded hallway at school, ignoring the girl who had marched angrily up to him. She probably had been about to say something, but Cruz continued to ignore her and kept walking. Much to his annoyance however, she followed him the whole way to his locker.

"What is your problem?" Cruz glared at her. Someone he had never even spoken to, much less seen around the hallways.

"What is yours? Maria has been trying to get a hold of you since yesterday morning but you keep ignoring her messages." The girl huffed.

"Tell her to get a life and to stop bothering mine." Cruz snapped yanking open his locker door. He didn't even know why he stopped here. He rarely ever went to his locker. Cruz looked at the picture that was held by a magnet on the inside of the door. Hm. He forgot that picture of Matthew was in here.

"Can you at least talk to her?" The girl put her hands on her hips, "Look, I don't know what your deal is but…"

"Can you shut up?" Cruz glared at her, "I don't want to talk to Maria, I have no interest in talking to Maria. If she never talked to me again, I would be ecstatic." Cruz rummaged around in the bottom of his locker, trying to find an excuse for having opened it in the first place.

"Why are you in such a bad mood?" The girl continued to stand there.

Cruz just looked at her. He turned his head to look at the picture that was hanging in plain sight on his door then back at the female, "Ask me that again. I dare you."

She followed the look to the locker door and made a face, "…Um. Okay then, never mind. I'll just…go." She quickly sidestepped and practically ran down the hallway.

"And good riddance." Cruz stood up and slammed the locker door shut. "Hopefully she tells Maria to leave me alone." He stalked away from his locker, ignoring the stares he was getting. Now what is their problem? I'm REALLY not in the mood for this today.

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Matthew settled down on the bed in the nurse station. Sleep. At last. He rolled over, hugging the pillow to his chest and closed his eyes once more. But that stupid voice will not let me sleep! Matthew put the pillow over his head instead, letting out a strangled cry of frustration.

The nurse peered in through the curtain, "Is something wrong?"

"So tired…cannot sleep." Matthew moaned through the pillow.

"Do you want a sleeping tablet? I have ones that dissolve here." The nurse offered.

"Please." Matthew sat up. ANYTHING that would help him sleep at this point.

The nurse disappeared and came back with a small tablet, "Just let it dissolve in your mouth. Hopefully you'll fall asleep within the next half hour or so."

Matthew nodded and laid back down, letting the tablet sit in his mouth. This will work, right?

_Not hardly._

Matthew took the pillow, quite calmly, and pressed it to his face again. That stupid voice. He knew it was his own, but still, couldn't it leave him alone? He wanted to sleep!

_Well if you were at your own home instead of moping around all the time, maybe you would have gotten sleep._

Matthew whimpered and pressed the pillow tighter. He was going to sleep if he had to suffocate himself.

_Oh yeah that's going to work. Isn't that the whole reason you're here in the first place?_

Now the voice was annoying _and_ right. Matthew sighed heavily. This would not turn out to be a good day.

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Cruz sat in class, listening to the shouts that were coming from the wall behind him. What is going on over there? He half-turned in his seat and looked at the wall in confusion, his classmates following suit.

"What are they doing over there?" The teacher smacked her book down on the desk and stalked out of the room, "I'll be right back."

Cruz looked back forward again, realizing his phone was now going off. He dug it out of his pocket and glared at the message that popped up on the screen.

_**Okay so Sara told me you were friends with one of the people who died, so I guess that's reason enough to ignore me, but do you have to be such a jerk about it?**_

Do you have to be such a jerk about being really emotionless? Cruz raised an eyebrow. He texted back this time however.

_**We broke up. Would you stop texting me and leave me the hell alone, damn it. You're annoying!**_

Cruz let the phone lay on his lap and waited for the teacher to come back in. Whatever was going on in the classroom that was next to this one, sounded like it was over. Or _was_ over. Now there was more yelling, only this time it sounded like the principal. Getting really out of hand over there. He picked up his phone as it started going off again and glared at the message.

_**Oh sure, call me annoying, whatever. Look, I just wanted to talk to you, so you don't have to be so rude about it.**_

…Who's the one being rude here?

_**What exactly is your definition of rude? I'm just curious. Is it openly ignoring someone, or asking someone out even though you don't like them at all, and are only doing so to laugh with your friends about it?**_

He really wasn't expecting an answer to that. Cruz smiled inwardly. Hopefully that got the point across. He looked up at the front of the room when their teacher came back in.

"Apparently someone decided to throw water balloons around the classroom." The teacher leaned on her desk.

"But the only one who would do something like that in that class is Gilbert…and he's not here…" Someone said, raising their hand slightly.

"As the principal said, his legacy lives on." The teacher sighed heavily. "Whoever decided to take a lesson from him, obviously does not care about their school record."

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Matthew stared at the ceiling. Still awake. Still unfortunately wide awake. Despite being so tired.

"You asleep…I guess not." The nurse peered in through the curtains and frowned, "Sleeping tablet not helping?"

"Nope." Matthew whispered, "Still wide awake…"

"How about if you talk to your parents? Will that help?" The nurse tilted her head slightly.

"No. They're at work now anyway." Matthew sighed heavily. He knew who he wanted to talk to, but this way day two. No way would he be allowed to talk to Cruz. Not until they returned to school.

"Um…how about one of your classmates that are here? Gilbert's in the conference room right now, but I can see if I can pull Lovino or Arthur out."

"Conference room?" Matthew asked, looking at her in confusion.

"One of his family members wanted to see him." The nurse smiled.

"Oh. He only has his mother though." Matthew returned his gaze to the ceiling.

"Oh? This man said he was Gilbert's father."

"Oh. That conference room is going to get loud." Matthew commented.

The nurse made a face, "Great. Thanks for the warning. Um…Arthur or Lovino?"

"No. I'll try to sleep a little bit longer. I don't want to be the reason for them missing class." Matthew covered his eyes with his arm and sighed.

"If you're not asleep in thirty minutes, I'm calling somebody." The nurse warned and disappeared again.

"Yes ma'am." Matthew sighed. If anything else, he could feign sleeping, right?

_Right back where you started. Pretending everything is fine._

Oh shut up. Matthew gritted his teeth together.

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Cruz shook his head as the noise continued behind him. It was really hard to focus on the lesson knowing that the class in the next room over was having so much fun. Honestly, why couldn't he be in that room? He was quite thankful he hadn't gotten a response text message however. Hopefully this meant she had given up. Not holding his breath, however.

He tilted his head slightly as the teacher continued talking, before realizing that once again, he was failing completely to take notes. Damn it. No point in starting now, I'll try next class. Cruz nodded and attempted to absorb the information by listening alone.

He closed his eyes as the voices drifted out into the hallway.

"I can walk! You don't have to push!" Strange. It sounded like Roderich. It was Roderich. Cruz raised both eyebrows. Roderich started a water balloon fight. That was really unlike him. Though then again, he probably did it because Gilbert would have done something along the lines of class disruption, though a water balloon probably had never crossed the guy's mind.

At least the yelling and shrieking had stopped. He could focus now more, right? Wrong. Cruz laid his head down on the desk, "I give up. I cannot pay attention today."

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><p>:T Matthew fails to get sleep and Cruz misses out on all the fun. :) I should add something in the next chapter to help the two out. XD<p> 


	13. Lonely Arthur and Not Permanent damn it

So most reviewers agreed that Matthew and Cruz should have a better chapter after that last one. I will do my best, I'm not promising anything. XD Sorry for delay in update, had a family member pass away.

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><p>.<p>

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Matthew squinted hazily at the ceiling above him. The tablet succeeded in making him more sleepy, however…the actual _asleep_ part he did not get. Much to his dismay. Matthew rolled over on his side and closed his eyes once more. This really was not a good day.

_You don't have many of those anyhow. Do you even have one good day?_

I have one…I'm sure I had one. At some time or another. Yesterday wasn't that bad. Matthew shook his head.

_Yeah…it wasn't that bad. Just emotional therapy classes and not being able to sleep. That wasn't bad at all!_

Matthew whimpered and buried himself under the blankets.

"Are you STILL awake?" The nurse peered in.

"Still…" Matthew admitted softly. _Oh now there you go. Finally admitting something._

"That's it. I'm calling someone. Who do I call, Lovino, Arthur, or your parents?" The nurse grabbed the phone, it must have been sitting nearby, and reappeared.

"Eh…" Matthew rolled over onto his back. Asking for more time to try and fall asleep was definitely out of the question. _Yeah, because you are obviously not going to get any sleep._ "Parents are at work…"

"So that leaves Lovino or Arthur." The nurse said firmly. She was definitely not budging on this.

Matthew sighed. Nothing against either of them. He just… _If you wanted to talk to HIM, you should have done that when you were still in school._ Okay, that voice was annoying. Matthew shook his head, "Arthur…I guess…" Arthur was close to his brother after all, at least Alfred always said so.

"Let me go find out what room he's in." The nurse vanished again.

Matthew pressed the pillow to his face. That annoying voice in his head was really not helping with this. But the last thing he needed was to be locked up in some insane asylum for talking to a voice that was in his head.

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Cruz sat in class, patiently, or maybe not so patiently, waiting for the bell to ring. The teacher had finished the lecture about ten minutes early, so now they were all just waiting for the class to be officially over.

Most classmates were talking to other people, Cruz, however, sat by himself at the back of the room. He took out his phone and half-glared at it. While wishing for a text message, the only person who had his number, other than annoying Maria, was Matthew, and ghosts do not text message. Nor is there such a thing as ghosts. Should really try and make more friends. Cruz scratched the back of his head, thinking over the possibility. Most friendship cliques were already formed by this point in the year, and even attempting to befriend someone would probably go south, as they would think he was about to punch them in the face or something.

Cruz sighed and scanned through the messages that Matthew had sent him that, for some reason, he had left on his phone. He glanced over the abbreviated words that appeared on the quickview of the message and put the phone away. No point in reminding himself. Does the phone company really know the person they're selling the device to? Why else would they make a phone that censors out words? That was just a dumb invention.

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Matthew tossed and turned in the bed while waiting for the nurse to get Arthur. Maybe he should sneak a couple more sleeping tablets. Matthew sat up and pulled the curtain back a bit. No one in the station but him. He could see the bottle from where he was sitting. To risk or not to risk…if someone did catch him, they could add potential suicide-attempt to his list of reasons why he was here.

_One more thing for Cruz to yell at you about when you do get out of here. If you get out of here._

Matthew sighed heavily. Not to risk. He laid back down on the bed, hugging the pillow to his chest once more. Maybe if he thought about happier memories that would help. Hearing someone speak with a German accent made him sit up again however. Gilbert?

No. Some blonde person. A …guy with long…blonde…hair. Well then. That was different. He'd be the spitting image of Ludwig if he cut his hair. The only reason Matthew knew Ludwig was because Alfred challenged him now and then to a sports competition. Matthew leaned forward, only slightly attempting to eavesdrop.

"…ran out of the room."

"I can give you Gilbert's room number. That's probably where he went." The counselor he was talking to tilted her head slightly.

"Ah, that would be helpful, dan…er thank you."

"No problem at all. Let me see here…"

Matthew listened to the conversation go back and forth before tilting his head slightly. He felt like he should warn Gilbert that whoever this person was, was coming, but…he didn't have Gilbert's cell phone number. Should have asked for it. Now that he thought about it, he didn't have Lovino's or even Arthur's. Maybe when Arthur came down here he could ask for it. At least then he'd be able to talk to someone.

"Thank you." The blonde male walked back in the direction he had come, while the counselor headed in the opposite direction. Well. Gilbert was definitely about to get a visitor, and apparently one he already tried to avoid once. Poor Gilbert. Oh. He looks like Ludwig. Maybe they really are relatives. That would explain why someone the spitting image of Ludwig had shown up here.

"Hello." Arthur wandered into the room not five minutes later. The nurse didn't come with him for whatever reason.

"Hey…" Matthew gave a weak wave from the bed.

"Can't sleep, huh?" Arthur sat down on the edge of the bed.

"This…sucks." Matthew cursed his frustrations out into the pillow again.

"Yes, well I quite agree. Believe me, the class you just pulled me out of was most certainly the most awful one I have sat in yet. And thank you for calling me out of it, by the way." Arthur added.

"Eh? What happened?" Matthew blinked at him curiously.

"They were showing a video of the principal reading off our letters." Arthur said flatly, "Unfortunately the teacher wanted us to comment on the letters, and of course she wouldn't leave me out of it."

"She didn't know your name, eh?" Matthew smiled softly.

"No. I don't think she knew anyone's name." Arthur made a face, "Fortunately the nurse came by and asked for your friend to come out, so I said my name as I was leaving and gave her a rather nasty glare."

Matthew laughed, "It's hard to comment on a letter you wrote."

"Quite. I have no comments on mine, I could have written a page or two on the other three that were read, but not mine." Arthur shook his head, "Oh, and some of the comments they were making were absolutely the most ridiculous things they could have come up with!"

Matthew raised both eyebrows, "Eh? Why?"

"They were calling me a lonely person!" Arthur huffed.

"How are you lonely with Alfred constantly bugging you?" Matthew laughed.

"Completely impossible." Arthur waved a hand around, "And worse yet, they went on to comment how I mentioned in the letter as if a stranger would be the one to find it instead of a friend, and so they made the decision that I must not have any friends, or if I do, it's only one or two. It was completely rude to listen to!"

"I can imagine. But…I've only ever seen you talking with Roderich or Alfred." Matthew winced as he said it.

"Yes. I know." Arthur sighed heavily, "Unfortunately, as ridiculous as it was, it was also correct."

"Ehhh…" Matthew reached up and patted the other on the shoulder, feeling sorry for him.

"Their so-called solutions need to be thrown into the nearest trashcan. Really. Suggest a family night to parents, try talking to the one person I mentioned in the letter, now honestly, if I could have done that, I would have already!" Arthur snapped.

Matthew burst out laughing at Arthur's rant, "Family night? How is that supposed to help?"

"I have no idea what their thinking behind any of that rubbish was, and by the way, what did you call me for here anyway?" Arthur suddenly looked at him confused, "Why not Gilbert or Lovino?"

"Eh? Gilbert was in a conference room…emphasis on _was._ He's not there now, and Lovino. . .I don't really know him. You're friends with Alfred so I figured it would be easier to talk to you." Matthew reddened a bit.

"Since when am I friends with Alfred?" Arthur just stared at him.

"Eh? But you're always helping him study…and he talks about you a lot…how he likes being your…friend..and…" Matthew's voice trailed off at the look the Englishman was giving him. Apparently Alfred only voiced this to him.

"Remind me to _kill him._" Arthur smiled cheerfully.

"Eh? Did I say something wrong?" Matthew panicked, though he really couldn't understand what he had said.

"Nothing. Anything he said was probably making fun of me anyhow." Arthur shook his head.

Eh…I think I upset him. Matthew buried himself under the covers a bit. "…sorry…but…I don't think Alfred was making fun of you. He always talked about you so cheerfully…he just loved being around you."

THAT comment was a mistake to make. Arthur's face went bright red. Matthew looked at Arthur, biting his lip. Was that from embarrassment or anger? With Arthur it was hard to tell.

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Cruz wandered into his next class and stared at the room. What the heck happened here? It looked like someone went wild with decorating. Cruz carefully walked to his seat, ducking under the center line of duct tape so he wouldn't get stuck on it. This clearly was the work of someone with nothing better to do. He continued looking around the room, noting with some amusement that there were test papers stuck to the duct tape that went around the room.

He glanced behind him and realized Alfred was sitting in his seat, he hadn't even noticed the blonde walk by his desk. Cruz turned to face the front of the room. He really should try and make amends with Alfred…but…that meant a painful reminder of a slightly shorter blonde that was no longer present. Besides, the teacher came in. Cruz watched as the teacher looked at the board quizzically.

"Okay. What happened here?" He asked flatly. The gaze turned to look at the white papers that were duct-taped around the room, "Well. I see someone didn't like the idea of taking a test today."

Cruz smiled a bit. That was good news for him. He had completely forgotten to study the night before.

The teacher turned to look at the black writing that went across the duct-tape-silver black-board, "Class dismissed, hm? Someone had the time to duct tape the entire black board. The entire room…my desk. The filing cabinet. And attach every single test paper, including the answer key to the tape. Someone clearly must have the free time to spend in detention as well."

Ouch. Cruz winced, hopefully he wouldn't be the scapegoat for this.

"So. Who did this?" The teacher leaned on his taped desk, and looked at the classroom. "I know one of you did. It wasn't like this when I was in here at the start of last class."

Now who was honestly going to admit to this? Cruz blinked and then turned in his seat to look back at Alfred. The blonde was looking around the room with an all-too-happy expression on his face. Alfred blinked and waved at him with a …bandaged hand. What the hell did he do to his hand?

"Anyone want to stand up and admit that this is their handywork?" The teacher looked around the room.

Cruz just shook his head and faced front again. No one in their right mind would admit this was them.

"Who would admit to this…" It was a whisper that came from somewhere in the room. Somewhere behind Cruz.

"Oh I don't know. Someone who doesn't want their classmates to be stuck in detention because of them…" The teacher yanked on one of the pieces of duct tape.

However, the duct tape that made the x in the center of the room had been stuck together. When the teacher yanked harder, the entire thing fell down on the class. Cruz saw what was about to happen and quickly moved his chair so the duct tape didn't fall on his head. That was close.

"Oh for…" The teacher moved around his desk, but found while he was leaning with one hand on his desk, he had inadvertently put his hand next to the bottle that Alfred had knocked over. He raised his hand and found it was covered in ink.

Cruz raised both eyebrows at the sight. Someone actually keeps a bottle of ink on their desk? For what?

"Oh real good. Ruin everything on my desk by spilling ink." The teacher commented, waving his hand around and sending ink droplets everywhere.

Cruz chuckled at the ink drops splattering the carpet. That was going to be hard to get off after it dried there.

Growling in annoyance, the teacher went to try and clean off his hand with the other one but now found he couldn't let go of the fistful of duct tape he had. He waved both hands around angrily, trying to get the duct tape to let go.

"This…is…going too far!" The teacher waved the ink-covered hand across his desk and knocked the bottle across the room, sending ink spraying all across the desks and floor.

Cruz blinked as a couple ink splatters splashed across his desk. He watched as the bottle rolled across the floor, and only came to a stop when it hit a desk that was nearby. He couldn't help the slight laugh that escaped him, watching as the scene slowly became worse just from the teacher trying to fix what someone else had done.

The teacher finally grabbed a hold of the duct tape that was stuck in his one hand with the other and yanked it out of his grip, though now found the tape stuck in the hand that was also covered in ink. "Who did this?"

No matter how many times he asks, no one is going to admit to this.

The teacher yanked in the giant web of duct tape, crushing it into a ball, along with the test papers that were stuck fast, and hurled it angrily at the wall, after he had finally gotten it off his hand.

"Whoever did this can march themselves to the office right now, this is outrageous." The teacher snapped at the class who was still laughing. He continued to try and peel the duct tape off the board, but to no avail.

Alfred's voice spoke up from behind Cruz, "Yeah guys. This is totally outrageous. Now who would disrupt class like this?"

A ripple of laughter went through the room at Alfred's obvious sarcasm. Oh no. There was no way that blonde did this. Cruz turned back in his seat and looked at Alfred in disbelief. Alfred grinned. Cruz covered his mouth and tried hard to suppress the laughter that was now shaking him. Oh yes he did. First Roderich, now Alfred, this clearly was a day for the school record books.

"Some people just have no consideration for learning." Alfred continued on, "Honestly."

The teacher turned around and glared at the class, "Whoever duct-taped this board can damn well get it off the board!"

"Well if no one else is going to offer to help. I guess I will." Alfred stood up and wandered to the front of the room, grinning slightly as a couple laughs came from his classmates. Cruz watched as Alfred wandered to the other side of the board and took hold of the strip that was on the bottom of the board.

Whistling innocently, he walked from one side of the board to the other, peeling it off in a long train. Alfred grinned and handed it to the teacher before going back from where he started from.

"Someone has manners at least." The teacher huffed.

"Yup. I totally have manners." Alfred grinned while peeling off another strip of duct tape.

"Someone in this classroom decided to duct tape in here, and no one is leaving until I know who!" The teacher snapped, turning so his back was facing Alfred.

Cruz smirked, watching the scene fold out from behind the teacher. Alfred held up the second strip of duct tape and very lightly tapped it on the teacher's shoulder. He turned and peeled the third strip off the board, tapping it on the teacher's other shoulder before going for the fourth one. Alfred peeked over his shoulder, more than likely to see if the teacher had caught on yet, but he was too busy glaring at the class while waiting for an answer. Alfred grinned and peeled off the fourth strip, tapping it horizontally across both shoulders. Cruz shook his head slightly, one hand covering his mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

"Okay last one!" Alfred commented loudly as he peeled off the top strip of duct tape and crumbled it up into a ball.

"Oh, thank you Alfred." The teacher turned back to look at him.

"No problem." Alfred grinned, tossing the ball of duct tape up and down in his good hand.

"Hm? What did you do with the others?" The teacher looked around confused.

Alfred shrugged and continued tossing the ball of duct tape in the air. Really. The teacher is that dense?

The teacher arched an eyebrow at him but turned back to the class. Alfred couldn't resist. He balanced the ball of duct tape on the top of the teacher's head and quickly retreated to his seat.

"Thank you. Alfred." The teacher reached up and detached the ball of duct tape from his hair, "Was that necessary?"

"It was." Alfred smiled, "It matched."

Oh he definitely asked for it now. Cruz laughed.

"Matched what?" The teacher looked at Alfred in confusion.

"Your tail." Alfred pointed, grinning.

The teacher looked over his shoulder confused and promptly reddened at finding where the other strips of tape had gone, "ALFRED!"

"Yo!" Alfred waved, "Present!"

"Did you duct tape this room?" The teacher glared at him. Boy some teachers really got red in the face when a student acted out. Or maybe it was out of embarrassment.

"Me? Now how would I do that?" Alfred held up one broken hand, "Don't you need two hands for that?"

The teacher faltered a bit and made a face.

"Yeah the answer is no. You really don't need two hands." Alfred shrugged. He took out a roll of duct tape and slipped it over his cast so it was hanging off his wrist, "Works just as well like this!" Alfred grinned at the teacher's reddening face.

"Alfred…" The teacher started in a you-better-run-if-you-know-what's-good-for-you voice.

"I know, I know. To the office. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200." Alfred picked up his backpack, "Farewell! You all have been a wonderful audience~!" Alfred waved the hand that was in a cast to his classmates before running out the door.

Cruz shook his head as the class erupted in laughter after the door swung shut. He did feel slightly bad for the teacher who had been the source of most of the amusement, and watched as the teacher struggled to get the duct tape off his back.

"Ugh…I am not being the nice person here." Cruz slapped a hand to his forehead, but no one else was moving to help.

Cruz sighed heavily as another few minutes passed and the teacher still couldn't reach where Alfred had placed the tape across his shoulders. Damn damn damn damn damn damn damn damn. Right. Well Roderich obviously pulled a Gilbert, Alfred pulled a Gilbert…that means Cruz should pull a…Matthew right? Matthew would help. But Cruz was not Matthew.

Cruz let out an annoyed growl and stood up, stalking to the front of the room and yanking the tape off the teacher, who looked at him in shock. Of course now almost the _entire class_ was staring at him in shock. Cruz crumpled up the duct tape in his hand and slammed it down onto the –still taped- desk before returning to his seat.

"That was nice of you." The student behind him whispered.

"That was completely un-like me in other words." Cruz grumbled.

"Well now." The teacher sighed, glaring at his desk, "Obviously the lesson plan is out for the day, and since most of you all find great amusement in laughing at others, you all can do it elsewhere. Class is over, get out." The teacher motioned to the door and started trying to cut the tape that was on his desk.

Cruz watched as the classmates around him glanced at each other before hurrying out the door. Cruz, however, stayed in his seat. He glanced over at the filing cabinet, also taped. Might as well help. He dragged himself out of the chair and started pulling at the tape that was around the cabinet.

The teacher looked at him gratefully before continuing to try and unwind his desk. Damn it, this was _not_ going to be a permanent thing! He did not go out of his way to help people on a regular basis!

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><p>So Matthew still didn't get sleep, and Cruz has a slightly better class, but ends up feeling bad for the teacher anyway. :) If someone had duct-taped a classroom like that in one of my classes, I would have helped the teacher, sorry. XD Leave me a review~<p> 


	14. Still have 30 minutes and Sleep at last

This story always ends up having the shortest chapters. Sorry. This is going to be another one of those. XD

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><p>.<p>

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"S-sorry…" Matthew whispered again, still holding the pillow.

"Don't worry about it." Arthur dropped his hands to his lap, "I really don't think I'm helping you fall asleep though."

"You're cheering me up though!" Matthew smiled. Even if he was getting rather annoyed and frustrated. It was nice to listen to someone else talk…

Arthur looked at him in confusion. Apparently Arthur didn't realize that. Matthew continued to smile up at him, but he closed his eyes and relaxed a bit. Sleep didn't feel that far away now.

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Cruz dumped the wad of duct tape into the trash can and looked around the empty classroom. He had to admit, Alfred certainly had done a good job of making everyone laugh. Everyone except the teacher. He glanced over at the male, who was just now getting the last of the tape off of his desk. Cruz shook his head and grabbed a few paper towels from the dispenser, beginning to try and wipe off the ink that was splattered across the desks.

"I appreciate your help!" The teacher smiled cheerfully at him.

"No problem." Cruz grumbled, finding that most of the ink had dried. Figures. He walked over to the storage cabinet and pulled out a bottle of cleaning solution, spraying it on the desk before scrubbing at it again. Why was he doing this anyway? He should have made Alfred clean it.

"Mr. Jones certainly outdid himself on this one." The teacher commented, taking another spray bottle and a paper towel, starting on a different desk.

Cruz looked around the room before nodding, "Certainly did."

"Honestly, he could come up with maybe a less destructive way of interrupting class at least." The teacher sighed and continued scrubbing.

Cruz looked at the now-clean desk and moved to the one next to it, starting to scrub the surface, "I don't want to see anything he deems as less destructive."

"Well perhaps not." The teacher sighed, "But I suppose that we all needed the laugh."

Cruz paused but continued scrubbing without comment.

"I'm a little amazed Alfred is even in school." The teacher commented, moving to a neighboring desk.

"I'm not. His brother wouldn't want him to miss class." Cruz said flatly.

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Matthew drifted off to sleep, barely feeling the hand that brushed the hair out of his face. He felt a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth and relaxed. Sleep was no longer evading him, and it seemed for now the voice had gone away at last.

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Cruz finished scrubbing the desk he was at and looked down at the floor. Next to his foot was the small ink bottle that had been sent flying across the room. He picked up the ink bottle and dropped it into the trash can.

"Well I guess that's about it." The teacher glanced around the room. "Nothing left but the ink on the carpet. That isn't going to come up."

Cruz nodded in silence.

"Go ahead to your next class, thank you for helping Cruz." The teacher smiled at him again.

"You're welcome." Cruz shrugged and left the classroom. The hallway was completely empty. He looked around him, wondering for a moment where all his classmates had gone, but they probably ran to the library or to their next class early.

Cruz sighed and started walking down the hall. Today was turning out to be one of a mixed blessing. At least that class hadn't gone as slow as the first one. But then again...he wasn't really planning on cleaning any more desks either. Cruz shook his head and continued walking. He noticed Roderich walking down the hall, and just watched as Roderich walked by without noticing him. He seemed to be lost in thought.

Cruz glanced at his watch, was Roderich just now getting out of the principal's office? That must have been one long lecture. Cruz shook his head and looked up after Roderich again. Class was in the opposite direction. Cruz still had almost a half hour before his third class started. He turned and walked after Roderich instead.

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><p>Short chapter is short. Sorrrrrryyyyyy. Going to the movies. :D OMG, I AM NOT LEAVING THIS CHAPTER AT 505 WORDS. That is just WAY too short. Well. 801 is better. =w=<p> 


	15. Changing what now and Remembering

Short chapter is short. Sorrrrrryyyyyy. Going to the movies. :D

Continuing on, sorry for lack of updates, I became distracted by Sudoku and Sims 3. w That new expansion pack is so much fun, except for the occasional glitch that keeps popping up, anyway. Moving on. Sorry in advance if this chapter turns out to be short. = w =

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><p>.<p>

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Cruz followed along behind Roderich, a little surprised that the usually-observant male hadn't noticed that he was being followed. Then again, the look he had on his face when he passed by him wasn't that much different from Matthew's when he was on one of his trains of thought.

"Hey." Cruz spoke up, trying to get Roderich's attention. Wasn't he supposed to turn back there anyway?

Roderich turned and looked at him confused, "Hm? Hello."

Right. He really wouldn't say anything else would he. Cruz looked back at the hall they had just passed. "Wasn't your class that way?"

Roderich looked at the hall, startled. "Oh. I guess it was. Thank you. But…your class is in the other direction, isn't it? Why aren't you in class anyway?"

Cruz made a face. "Class ended early. Alfred decided to duct-tape the room." He normally didn't refer to Alfred by his first name, but he had to admit, it was a nice change of pace to the normal standard lecture.

Roderich looked at him in disbelief, "Duct-taped the room? Oh geez…the teacher must have lost it."

"Yeah just a bit. It didn't help that the rest of the class was laughing." Cruz shrugged it off, "He just told everyone to leave." No reason to tell him I stayed behind to help. That was completely uncharacteristic of me.

"Well there's one more teacher who probably won't renew his contract at the end of the year." Roderich sighed. "People are going to start wondering about this school."

"Yeah we don't really have the best reputation, do we?" Cruz scratched the back of his head. This seemed like the typical conversation to have with a student council member.

"No, we don't. The school board has gotten so many complaints from parents and teachers, it really is ridiculous. But…it's our fault, isn't it? We're the ones who are acting out." Roderich looked down the hall, but somehow Cruz got the feeling he was looking at something that wasn't there.

"Yeah I suppose. Though they can't expect a radical change in a 24-hour period of time." Cruz scoffed.

"Change…" Roderich blinked. A strange expression passed over his face for a moment, "Maybe they are."

Cruz burst out laughing, "That is not happening in this place!"

Roderich smiled in return, "No perhaps not. But…" A look of mischief passed over his face. That was completely not like him. The albino must have rubbed off on Roderich.

"But what?" Cruz looked at him, he would not say he was curious to know what the male was thinking.

Roderich continued smiling, "I just got an idea, thanks to you."

"Why do I get the feeling that idea is going to get me into something I do not want to be a part of…" Cruz sighed heavily.

"Well now. The school board is visiting the school after lunch. I say we give them a warm welcome." Roderich laughed.

"Warm welcome…what is the definition of warm that you are using?" Cruz crossed his arms. Now this was starting to sound rather strange.

Roderich looked up and down the hall, "How long do you think this hallway is?"

"Hm?" Cruz looked up and down the hall, "No clue. Measuring is not my strongsuit." Probably about as long as the field they used for gym class though.

"You have a good arm don't you? For throwing?" Roderich asked curious.

"I can throw things pretty far, yes. But what exactly are you planning on me throwing?" Cruz looked at Roderich, his eyes narrowing slightly. And why.

"Think the cafeteria will supply some fruit or vegetables?" Roderich looked at him with an innocent expression.

"You're planning on throwing food at the school board? How the blazes is that going to help the school record?" Cruz stared at him incredulously. Never mind that, the cafeteria would not go for that.

"Just watch." Roderich laughed, "If anyone gets detention, it's going to be me, relax."

"I'm not worried about the detention. It's more of the suspension or expulsion that I was thinking of." Cruz snorted.

"Well then, think of it as a permanent vacation!" Roderich smiled.

Cruz stared at him blankly. "That's a different way of putting it. But I can live with that." Permanent vacation sounded a lot better than being expelled, even though the outcome was the same.

Roderich smiled, "Good. Then I should head to class. I'll be nice and not act out this time." He rolled his eyes and headed back towards the hallway, "Meet me here at lunch? I'm going to try and pull Antonio and Alfred into this, too. Since they decided to disrupt class anyway."

"Sure. Might as well have other people sitting in the office." Cruz wandered back down the hall, trying to decide if it was a good thing or a bad thing that he had followed Roderich. Today was NOT going to be a normal day by any standards. Oh well. At least it would be fun. Cruz smiled.

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Matthew sat in the blank space he had been occupying for some time now and looked around in confusion. This place was rather strange. There was…nothing. "It's a little creepy…" Matthew shuddered and glanced behind him nervously. He kept expecting something to come out and scare him. "Where am I at?"

"No clue."

Matthew turned his head and saw Gilbert laying beside him, "You weren't there a minute ago."

"Neither were you." Gilbert snorted, "Jolly hello to you, too."

"This place is cold." Matthew sighed, hugging himself.

"Is it? I can't feel anything." Gilbert blinked, "It feels nice to me."

"You must have better circulation than me, then." Matthew sighed. He rubbed his arms with a sigh. This place really did give him the creeps, "Why is there…nothing."

"Haven't the foggiest." Gilbert laughed, "I don't really care either. This is the best sleep I've had in a long time! No nightmares, nothing~!"

"Eh. I suppose that's one way of looking at it." Matthew made a face, "But…are we really sleeping? How is this sleeping if we can talk to each other?"

Gilbert opened one eye, "Hm. Good point." He sat up and rubbed his head, "But…I'm not about to question it either." He covered his mouth to suppress a yawn and laid back down.

Matthew stood up, "Well I'm not about to sit here. It feels like something is going to come out of nowhere and scare me."

"Have fun wandering." Gilbert waved and closed his eyes again.

Matthew shook his head and wandered through the blackness around him. Gilbert disappeared from sight rather fast. "It's so creepy here!" Matthew sighed and wandered around, "Arthur? Arthur!" He looked around him in confusion. If this really was sleeping…then why did it seem so…

_Dead._

Matthew winced, "There's a better word for quiet and still I'm sure…"

_I'm relatively certain you're dead._

Matthew sighed heavily, "I am not. This is just a really strange dream."

_You're not tired at all. You're not upset. You feel nothing but cold. I would call that dead._

Matthew looked behind him where Gilbert had disappeared from, "Eh…"

_And he was already dying, so being dead would make perfect sense._

"Except there was nothing wrong with me!" Matthew panicked and ran back the way he had come, or at least from the way he thought he had come. It was hard to tell with nothing around him, "Gilbert!"

_Oh sure. Call out to someone who's not there. That makes even more sense._

"Okay, voice of reason, you can shut up now!" Matthew hissed and kept running, "Gilbert!"

_You're the one talking to the voice._

Matthew slapped his head and moaned. This really was not his day. If this was sleeping, he'd rather be awake and dealing with how tired he had been.

_Uh-huh. Here we go again._

"Gilbert!" Matthew called again, ignoring the voice this time, "Somebody?" He kept running, trying to find something so he would be staring into nothingness. He felt his foot suddenly keep going down and felt himself falling, "Oh greaaaat!" Matthew covered his eyes and braced himself for an impact but found when it did come, it didn't hurt at all.

Matthew opened one eye then sat up abruptly, "I'm in school? That was just a screwed-up dream?" He stood up and found, for once, the voice was silent. Matthew looked around in confusion as people passed by him. Something seemed off though. He turned his head and saw a fight that was going on down the hall, "Eh? A fight?" Matthew scurried down the hall and saw Cruz was fighting someone. "Oh. This is last year. Wait. Is this a memory?" Matthew glanced around him.

"_Martinez!" The principal came up, brought by a teacher, "How many times must I drag you to the office?"_

"_How many times do you feel like doing so?" Cruz glared at the principal, still holding the other student against the wall._

"_Go to your classes, shoo!" The teacher waved the spectators away, "Nothing to see here, leave!"_

_Cruz rolled his eyes but released the student, who scrambled to run away but the principal stopped him._

"_Both of you are going to the office to tell me what happened here." The principal snapped._

"_He attacked me for no reason!" The student protested._

"_Oh sure, for no reason at all." Cruz glared at the student who was much smaller than he was._

"I remember this." Matthew sighed. He leaned a bit and saw himself standing by the wall, blending in perfectly, "I knew it…"

"_Eh…principal…" Matthew spoke up quietly._

"_Hm? Oh, Mr. Williams, what is it?" The principal turned, a little surprised to see he was standing there._

_Matthew winced a bit, and seemed to shrink back against the wall, "He provoked Martinez…"_

_Cruz looked at him with a what-the-hell-are-you-saying expression on his face._

"_Oh he did. Well thank you for speaking up Mr. Williams. You, come along. Martinez, I will not tolerate any fighting, provoked or not, but I will let you go this time." The principal dragged the other student down the hall._

Matthew sighed heavily. There was no way he could forget that one.

_Cruz glowered after the principal and turned to look at Matthew, "What the hell is your problem? I didn't ask you to open your damn mouth."_

"_I know you didn't…" Matthew looked around him, not meeting the other's eyes._

_Cruz rolled his eyes. "Whatever."_

Matthew watched Cruz stalk past him, actually he would have walked right through him, but Matthew automatically moved out of the way. Matthew watched as the other walked away, turning his head slightly as his mirror image hurried after him.

"_Sorry if you didn't want me to. But he did provoke you, what's the point in getting trouble for something that wasn't your fault?" Matthew asked._

"_You just summed up the entirety of this school year." Cruz glared at the smaller blonde, "I didn't ask you to, and I didn't need you to. Back off." Cruz stalked away and down the hall, but Matthew continued to follow along behind him._

Matthew sighed heavily, "He was so stubborn…eh…he still is."

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><p>Ta-da. 8D That makes two out of four done with this chapter now. XD I didn't mean for these two to overlap each other so much, that's just the way it turned out. Leave me a review, they make me happy!<p> 


	16. You stupid little  and Don't sleep

So fanfiction decided to take over 24 hours to send out the email about Awesome Style updating. I posted that yesterday morning at 10am and just got the email like an hour ago. That is freaking ridiculous. Anyway. Cruz may be a little snippy in this chapter. You'll find out why if you keep reading. Or if you're keeping track of which class they're in, you should know already. XD

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><p>.<p>

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Cruz drummed his fingers on the desk in annoyance. Of all the days he did _not_ want to sit near her, it was today. Especially after this morning. Cruz scowled at the front of the room instead, blatantly ignoring Maria's attempts to get his attention. Apparently she had nothing better to do. He shifted his gaze slightly to the right as he heard a conversation perk his interest, apparently no one else wanted to listen to the teacher either.

"…set off a crapload of water balloons! It was amazing!"

"No way, Roderich did? That must have been absolutely hilarious! I bet the principal is still yelling at him!"

Cruz smirked slightly and turned his eyes back forward again. That didn't take long for the story to go around. _'Wonder how long it's going to be before someone's talking about Alfred's stunt.'_

"Must be that kind of day. The Spanish kid in my last class started bouncing beach balls around."

Cruz barely restrained the laugh that almost came in response to the comment from the classmate sitting behind him.

"Man if more school days were like this, it would be freaking awesome! I wanna take part in something like that~"

Cruz blinked and turned his head to see who was talking. _'Can't remember his name…Mathias?'_

"Sure if you want to get detentions until the end of the school year."

Mathias made a face in response, "Oh come on! Where's your sense of adventure? Besides, people get away with this stuff all the time!"

Cruz was half-tempted to join the conversation but noticed the teacher had turned back around and was giving them a disapproving glare, though there was no possible way she could hear what they were saying.

"Yeah, but the principal might start cracking down on it. And probably right about the time you join in." The other student hissed.

Mathias pouted a bit and was about to open his mouth to comment in return when the teacher spoke up.

"Anything you two would like to share with the class?" The teacher asked, having a cheerful smile on her face, though if one looked close enough, you could also see the annoyance there as well.

Mathias paled a bit and offered a sheepish grin, "Um…"

'…_to help or not to help….' _Cruz looked at them blankly before looking back at the slide again.

"Don't be shy, go ahead and speak up." The teacher leaned on her desk, waiting patiently.

"Now you got us in trouble…"

Cruz mentally rolled his eyes. _'You got yourself in trouble, moron.'_

Mathias waved a hand nonchalantly, "It's nothing!"

"Oh really? It must have been something. You two were whispering back and forth." The teacher raised both eyebrows.

Cruz noticed, with a miniscule amount of amusement, that Maria was still trying to get his attention. _'She is not getting the hint here.'_ Cruz looked over at Mathias, keeping a blank expression on his face.

"Cruz, you look like you know what they were talking about~" The teacher clapped her hands together, keeping the same cheerful and annoyed expression on her face.

'_OH THANKS A LOT.'_ Cruz looked back towards the front of the room, "You skipped a slide."

Mathias just gaped at him.

"Hm?" The teacher looked back at the slideshow, "Did I?"

"Yeah, you went from slide 4 to slide 6." Cruz commented, ignoring the stares he was getting from Maria and Mathias. "They were just wondering if the slides were mislabeled."

"Oh. No that was my mistake." The teacher blipped back to slide five, "Okay, sorry about that. Moving on~"

Mathias leaned across the aisle, "Dude. I owe you one." He straightened back up and focused on the front of the room instead of the student behind him.

"Then get her to knock it off." Cruz hissed back, motioning to Maria.

Mathias clapped a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing, as he could see the female gesturing to Cruz from where he was sitting, "How am I supposed to do that?"

"I don't know." Cruz sighed in annoyance, "If I knew that I would have done something already."

"'Kay. Let me try this." Mathias leaned back in his seat, "Hey Maria, quit waving the hand signals everywhere! You're distracting my attention from the slideshow!"

Cruz quickly put a hand over his mouth to prevent any laughs from escaping.

The teacher turned around and stared blankly at Mathias and Maria, who was now glaring daggers at Mathias. "Is there a problem, Maria?"

"No, ma'am!" Maria reddened and turned front quickly.

"Then stop distracting your classmates." The teacher glared at her before returning to the slideshow.

Mathias gave Cruz a concealed thumbs-up. Cruz smirked in response before pointing over to Maria, who was once again trying to get his attention.

"Dude. She's stubborn." Mathias made a face.

Cruz noticed that Maria must've overheard the last comment, because she stuck her middle finger up at him in response. _'How mature.'_

"Mrs. Rose~ Maria just gave me the middle finger~" Mathias cried in a fake hurt voice.

Cruz slapped a hand to his forehead. "I'm stuck between two kids."

"Okay." The teacher slammed her textbook shut, "Maria, can I talk to you in the hallway for a moment."

"But…" Maria started.

"Now." The teacher repeated, pointing towards the door.

Cruz watched as Maria walked out, still protesting even as the door closed behind the teacher.

"That worked." Mathias laughed.

"Yeah. Thanks. A lot." Cruz scoffed, "That was really mature." He ignored the snickers coming from the classmates around him and shook his head with a sigh.

"Hey, she's leaving you alone now right?" Mathias grinned.

The teacher peeked back in, "Martinez, Kohler, can I see you two in the hall a moment?"

"No." Cruz answered Mathias before standing up and stalking over to the door.

"What did I do?" Mathias pouted before following Cruz out.

Mrs. Rose closed the door after Mathias, "Okay, obviously you three have some issues here."

"I don't think I'm the one with issues." Cruz retorted.

"She was distracting me~" Mathias protested.

"Okay…now, Maria tells me she was trying to talk to Cruz, and I know we've had a discussion before about talking during class…" She shot Maria a stern look.

"And I told her already to leave me the hell alone." Cruz spoke up before the teacher could finish her sentence.

"That part she didn't tell me." Mrs. Rose made a face.

"You're a jerk!" Maria said, putting both hands on her hips, and glaring at Cruz.

"I'm a jerk?" Cruz looked at her with raised eyebrows, "Do you really want to go into this argument again? I don't care if you're a female, I will punch your lights out."

"Eep~" Mathias jumped and backed away from Cruz.

"Okay, no fighting, no fighting!" Mrs. Rose quickly stepped in between Cruz and Maria, "Let's work this out calmly!"

"Oh, right, sure, when has _he_ ever been calm?" Maria snapped.

"Don't. Start. With. Me." Cruz growled.

"Maria, seriously, stop provoking him, you're the one being rude!" Mathias spoke up hastily.

Mrs. Rose sighed heavily, "Cruz's behavior has improved here of late, Maria and furthermore…"

Maria rolled her eyes, "That's because of the little purple-eyed blonde always getting him out of trouble."

Mathias winced and looked at Cruz, worried of the impending rage.

Cruz glared at Maria. "What was that?" He growled quietly.

Mrs. Rose's face drained of all color realizing the sudden temper spike, "Uh, Maria, I suggest you keep your mouth shut…"

"You heard me." Maria stuck her tongue out at him, "The only reason your behavior has shown any improvement at all is because of the stupid little blonde that keeps getting you out of trouble with the principal!"

"You…" Cruz started.

"Sorry, Mrs. Rose, but I'm not about to stop him." Mathias said flatly, pointing at Cruz.

"I think it would be safer for me to step over this way…" Mrs. Rose moved hastily, "That clearly counts as provoking and I am not standing in the middle of that! School regulations or no school regulations, that's suicide!"

"He would have pushed you out of the way anyway." Mathias commented.

Cruz smirked and punched Maria in the jaw as hard as he could, "He has a name you fucking idiot!"

"And that's what he has a problem with?" Mathias made a face, "He coulda yelled at her for just about anything, and he uses the fact that she didn't use the other guy's name?"

Mrs. Rose bit her lip, "I think…I should do something here…"

"Make some popcorn maybe…" Mathias suggested.

"Not that." Mrs. Rose looked at him disapprovingly.

"Why would I use his name? I don't know who the heck he is, it's not like he's in any of my classes!" Maria snapped, rubbing her jaw where Cruz had hit it.

"Uh…isn't he in this one?" Mathias looked at the closed door.

"Correction…he _was_ in this one." Mrs. Rose spoke up quietly.

Cruz scowled, "His name is Matthew! He was in this same damn classroom every day! How can you go to a class every day for four months and not even know who sits in the seat in front of you?"

"Ouch." Mathias winced, "Poor guy. Hey what do you mean was? He's not at this school anymore?"

"Uh…the assembly…?" Mrs. Rose whispered.

"Oh. Well crap." Mathias rubbed the back of his head, "Well that was a sore subject to bring up with him. Geez Maria really is stupid."

"Well it's not like I ever talked to him!" Maria retorted.

"Only every time he asked you for the class assignment that you never seemed to complete!" Cruz snapped right back at her.

Mrs. Rose nodded in agreement, "He has a good point there."

"Yeah. Maria's really losing this one." Mathias commented.

"Well it's not like anyone cared about the invisible boy. Otherwise he would still be here and not six feet under!" Maria snapped.

"Oh man." Mathias covered his eyes with both hands, "I can't watch."

"THAT. Was just crossing a huge line." Mrs. Rose gaped in shock.

Cruz felt like he was frozen in place for a long period of time, but felt his fist connecting with something hard in the next second. He blinked and discovered Maria was on the floor.

Mathias peered through his fingers, "Is it over?"

"I expected more than one punch, I'll be honest with that." Mrs. Rose commented, looking at Maria who was holding her shoulder, "And certainly not to the shoulder."

"Deep breaths, in and out~" Mathias attempted to calm Cruz.

Cruz glared at him, "Don't. Even. Try."

"Take a deep breath, relaaaaax…" Mathias ignored him, instead he put both of his hands on Cruz's shoulders and started gently pushing him away from Maria.

"That frickin' hurt!" Maria complained.

"Good." Mathias retorted.

"Good." Mrs. Rose agreed, "After a comment like that, you earned yourself a one-way trip to the principal's office."

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Matthew sat upright, hugging his knees to his chest. A note beside him in Arthur's handwriting said about a medical emergency and that they weren't supposed to leave the Nurse Station until notified. Arthur was fast asleep in the bed next to his own, so Matthew was stuck with his own thoughts to keep him company. He shook his head and laid back down, pulling the covers up over his shoulders. Maybe just a little bit more sleep…Matthew closed his eyes and listened to the silence in the room. The only real sound was Arthur's soft breathing. _'At least he doesn't talk in his sleep like Alfred does.' _Matthew smiled lightly and buried his face into his pillow once more.

"…damn you Alfred."

Or maybe he does. Matthew lifted his head and looked over at Arthur, who still gave off the appearance of being fast asleep. Great. Now he was stuck in the nurse station with someone who talks in his sleep. Matthew hit his head against the pillow and let out a whimper. At least he had gotten some decent sleep, even if it was an old memory…and a strange place. _'Gilbert's okay, right?'_ Matthew bit his lip, thinking of the German who had been so completely nonchalant about being in a space of complete darkness where they couldn't feel anything. _'And it was so cold there…how could he not have felt that?'_ Matthew shook his head and pulled the covers tighter around him. Whoever that blonde person was…he was going to see Gilbert, so of course he was alright. It wasn't like he was by himself. _'I wonder if he was the medical emergency? I hope not…but Gilbert said he still had two months…' _Matthew shook his head. It wouldn't do any good to get himself worried. The last thing he needed was unnecessary anxiety weighing on his mind.

"Memories were more pleasant than this…" Matthew closed his eyes once more and attempted to return to sleep. But something was still tugging at the back of his mind. If Gilbert wasn't alright, then what was that space he was in earlier where Gilbert was? They were able to talk to each other so clearly.

Matthew's eyes flew open and he quickly sat up. Well if sleeping meant going back to that space again, there was no way he was falling asleep! Matthew buried his face in his hands and sat with his back leaning up against the headrest of the bed. _'Don't think about it. Gilbert's fine. Someone with that much energy just doesn't…die that easily…'_ Matthew whimpered slightly and began wishing that Arthur was awake. At least then he would have someone to talk to, and he could get his mind off of that cold feeling the strange dream had left behind. If it had been a dream.

Matthew hugged his knees to his chest, laying his head down on his arm and closed his eyes once more. Maybe if he slept like this he wouldn't be in such a deep sleep again. Hopefully. He let out a soft sigh and gave in to the feeling of weariness that had been weighing heavily on his shoulders.

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><p>Hey this chapter turned out a little longer too! 8D Hopefully fanfiction posts this one faster than it did the last one. :T Leave me a review~<p> 


	17. Back here again and Past can stay there

I'm feeling like updating today~ I got writing spirit fire right now :D (and no it's not because I really should be cleaning my room instead of being on the computer) =w=;

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Cruz stared at the, in his opinion, overly-decorated walls. It made it look like the staff was honestly trying too hard to keep everything looking…cheerful. Not only did he have to stare at the decorated room…he also had to sit with _these two._ He shot a sideways glare at the two who sat next to him. Fortunately, it was Mathias sitting in the seat directly next to him, with Maria on the other side of Mathias.

"How did we end up down here again?" Mathias asked blankly.

How indeed. Cruz went back to glaring at the wall. He could have easily gotten away with punching Maria if it hadn't been for the random teacher that had come around the corner. So of course, now here they all were. Mrs. Rose included, but she was talking to the principal currently. Apparently he wanted to hear all sides of this event. If you could call it an event.

Maria was sulking and didn't answer the question.

"I'm having a serious déjà vu moment." Cruz grumbled, leaning back in his chair. He had sat in these chairs in the office way too many times to count, and now here was right back in there again. It made it feel like the time he spent actually out of the office was nothing but his imagination. But that meant Matthew was still coming to school right?

Cruz stared at the door blankly. There was no way that was possible. Reality was like a sharp slap to the face. Cruz sighed and went back to glaring at the décor in the office.

"At least it kinda looks homey in here." Mathias spoke up.

'_Is he trying to make a conversation….because he really sucks at it.'_ Cruz glared at Mathias but didn't make any comment. He was quite content to sitting in silence, because any comment he would make would end up getting retorted to by the annoying female that was in the room.

Mrs. Rose walked out of the office with a sigh, "Maria, you're in." She sat in one of the office chairs as Maria stalked past her without saying anything in response.

"Is he in a bad mood?" Mathias asked curiously.

"Surprisingly, no. He actually seems to be in a good mood." Mrs. Rose tilted her head in confusion.

"Yeah, well that was before _she_ went in there." Cruz motioned to the closed door.

"Ahahaha…maybe we should run while we can." Mathias laughed nervously.

Mrs. Rose forced a smile, "Oh now, I'm sure it won't go all that badly!" She leaned back in her chair and looked around the office. "…You know. They really shouldn't try so hard in keeping this place decorated."

'_Oh. She agreed.'_ Cruz smiled slightly and hit his head against the wall in slight frustration. At least he had gotten some of the pent-up frustrations out from lack of fighting for so long.

"Hm? That's not my phone." Mathias looked at the cell he had pulled out of his pocket after hearing a ring tone going off.

Cruz blinked and pulled out his phone, staring at it blankly, "Why the heck am I getting a message?"

"Maybe one of your friends is bored." Mrs. Rose laughed.

'_That would be the first thing to comment on, but…who else has my number besides Matthew and Maria.'_ Cruz opened the message and stared at the text.

_**Just texting you cuz I really don't have anything else to do. I'm up on the roof at the moment. Oh, I got your number from Mattie at some point, I really don't remember when though. What's up? Hope your class is going better than mine did.**_

Why the hell would Alfred even _want_ Cruz's number. Cruz just glared at the message before typing in a response: _**I'm in the office for punching someone. Does that answer your question?**_

He shoved the phone back in his pocket and continued to wait for the next person to be called into the office.

Mr. Smith appeared out of his office not a minute later, "This one is going to take a while, so Mathias, come in here." He half-pushed Maria back out of the office before disappearing again.

Maria sulked and sat down, huffing angrily.

"Let me guess. You were stupid enough to repeat the dialogue you gave to Cruz." Mrs. Rose commented flatly.

Cruz smirked a bit and took out his phone again as another response came: _**Who the heck did you punch?**_

Cruz rolled his eyes but answered anyway. _**Stupid ex.**_ He didn't say anything more than that and put the phone back in his pocket. Hopefully Alfred wouldn't send him another message. What was he doing up on the roof anyway?

Mrs. Rose didn't make a comment to the silence that had settled in after the statement to Maria. The answer had been rather obvious when the female didn't respond. She crossed her arms and made a face instead.

'_At least she's not attempting to make conversation.'_ Cruz thought, taking quiet relief in the silence that had fallen over the room. He noticed Alfred hadn't texted him back yet. Hopefully that meant he had come to his senses and come off the roof, or that someone had gone up there and he found someone else to talk to. Neither option sounded very likely, but it was a better thought than Alfred just being up on the roof by himself.

_**My phone is ringing.**_

Cruz just stared at the message that had popped up on his phone. _'So what?'_ He looked at the time the message was sent, apparently there was a slight delay in the messages going back and forth. Oh well. _**So answer it.**_

_**Dude. I'm not answering it. Not with that Caller ID popping up.**_

Cruz raised both eyebrows. What person would make Alfred _not_ answer the phone? _**It might be important, but whatever. Go ahead and ignore it then. I'm about to get called into the office, so don't send me a message. I'm not getting in trouble for having my phone on.**_

Mathias came out as Cruz's phone went off again. Cruz scowled and ignored the noise from his pocket.

"You're up." Mathias patted Cruz on the shoulder before plopping down again.

Cruz glowered at him before stalking into the office and shutting the door behind him. This definitely brought back some memories. None of them were pleasant ones however. Cruz made his way over to the empty chair and sat down, raising an eyebrow at the chair that lay on its side over by the wall, but chose not to comment on it.

"So far I pretty much got the fight in the hallway covered from the other three. Maria had a rather poor choice of words…"

"That's an understatement." Cruz said flatly.

"I wouldn't doubt that a bit. However, fighting is still not tolerated, no matter how insulting the comments might have been." Mr. Smith sighed.

"Yeah I'm aware of that. I can probably recite your lectures by now." Cruz commented, leaning back in the chair.

"I wouldn't doubt that either." Mr. Smith made a face, "But given the situation that came up and that Mrs. Rose commented you had told Maria to leave you alone already before this had occurred, I am not going to start disciplinary action."

Cruz just stared blankly at him. _'Seriously? I just punched someone and I don't even get a detention?'_

"There are students in this school who are really hurting after the assembly, and you are no exception to that. I am well aware that Matthew was one of your closest friends…"

"Why do people keep saying friends in the plural form?" Cruz cut him off from whatever he had been about to say.

"Uh." The principal made a face, "You really don't have anyone else to talk to?"

"Who the heck is stupid enough to talk to someone with a school record as long as mine?" Cruz raised both eyebrows, "Usually all I do is turn around and people run."

Mr. Smith let out a heavy sigh, "Not even Matthew could touch that reputation, huh."

"Kept the bullies away from him." Cruz smirked a bit, thinking back to their first year.

"I am aware of that." He made a face again, "As I recall, I had both of you on a number of occasions because of the complaints."

"That year was the most fun I've ever had." Cruz laughed, "I didn't even have to say anything and they knew what I was thinking."

"I don't think that's necessarily a good thing…" Mr. Smith sighed, "But in the event of this time around, you were defending your friend, so I am letting you walk on this."

Cruz stared at him. He was seriously letting him go without any punishment whatsoever. His gaze shifted to where a paper hung behind the principal. It had six tally marks going across it. "What is that for?"

Mr. Smith turned to look at the paper Cruz was pointing at, "Hm? Oh. Nothing." The principal commented, turning back to him, "You can go now. I'll talk to Maria."

"If you could get her to leave me alone, that would help." Cruz stood up and left the office.

Mr. Smith leaned over and added another tally to the paper, "Seven."

Cruz shook his head as he crossed back into the room where Mathias, Mrs. Rose, and Maria were sitting. "You're back in." He motioned to the door after glaring at Maria, "And there's no reason for me to stay, so I'm out of here."

Mathias brightened, "We're free to go?"

The principal leaned out, "Yeah, you three can go, Maria's the only one who needs to stay."

"Oh good." Mrs. Rose sighed in relief and left the office, with Mathias following right behind.

Cruz wandered out after Mathias. Oh right. The text message. He pulled out his phone and looked at the words on his screen. '_What?'_

_**THERE'S A GHOST CALLING ME.**_

Cruz just stared at the message before quietly putting it back in his pocket. He would just act like he hadn't gotten the message for some strange reason. Alfred was obviously up to something. Ghosts do not use phones, nor do they call someone. He wandered down the hall, deciding to head for the cafeteria since it was almost time for lunch anyhow.

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Matthew sat in the cold, black space he had been occupying earlier. "This is exactly why I did not want to fall asleep." He hugged his knees to his chest and glanced around him nervously. Well at least if he went back to that memory again, he had something pleasant to think about.

But living in the past was not good. Matthew shook his head. He laid down and curled up instead. Just going to lay here and sleep. Not going to do anything else. Memories can stay right where they're at. _'And whatever message my stupid subconscious was trying to send me by showing me them can come across to me some other way.'_

_._

_._

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><p>C: There we go~ Cruz was the major part of this chapter. =w=; But there's only so much you can say for someone who's sleeping. Leave me a review~ 8D Thanks to all the ninjas who came out of their hiding places to leave me a review last time, I love you all~<p> 


	18. Queen of Perfume and Memories are nice

8D Yay~ Lunchtime is one of the easiest classes to write. =w= I don't have to incorporate a teacher into it that's doing death-by-powerpoint (because I suck at writing actual lessons being taught verbally XD ). So this one is going to be fun~

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><p>.<p>

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Cruz stood outside the cafeteria, glaring up at the menus, as he was trying to figure out what to get. Finally deciding on the soup, since he wasn't real hungry anyhow, he made his way over to the line that was already forming and stood behind the last person there. It was moving at a relatively fast pace, but other lines seemed to be moving faster, as Cruz was watching the blonde head of Alfred already heading in through the doors at the kitchen with the line he was in. _'Probably serving some variation of burger.'_ Cruz rolled his eyes. Fortunately Matthew hadn't shared his brother's love of the burger, and usually opted for whatever Cruz was getting at lunch, mainly because the pale-blonde's favorite food was pancakes, and that was _never_ on the menu for lunch. Not even for brunch. _'Of course on those days he usually opts for french toast sticks just to get the syrup.'_ Cruz smirked a bit.

He shifted forward in line as it moved, sighing in slight relief as they finally moved through the kitchen doors. Something was telling his subconscious not to turn around for any reason, so he remained looking front. But the familiar perfume hinted at who it was. _'Of course it's her. Why couldn't it be anyone else in this damn school. It has to be her.'_ Cruz scowled. Maria was the only person he ever met who wore that perfume, and it really did have a way of stinking up the place. It didn't help she must put the whole bottle on before going out the door. _'Single-handedly keeping the business open, no doubt.'_

Cruz picked up a bowl of soup off the counter, and politely declined the side and crackers that were being offered with, "Not that hungry, thanks anyway."

He moved on, still ignoring the female that was behind him.

"Well I hope you're happy, I got detention for a week now because of you!" Maria snapped haughtily as she stepped up beside him, for what reason she did that, Cruz had no clue.

"No, I'm not happy, but do you want to know what would make me ecstatic?" Cruz forced a polite smile at Maria.

Maria seemed taken aback by this, "What would? Though something tells me it has something to do with my leaving you alone."

"Not at all." Cruz continued to keep the smile on his face.

"Oh? What then?" Maria tilted her head.

Cruz smirked and dumped the bowl of soup on top of Maria's head, leaving the bowl sitting there. "Now I'm happy." He walked away and picked up a bottle of juice as he exited, leaving the other students staring at Maria and the soup that was becoming a small puddle on the floor.

'_Wasn't hungry anyway. Waste of soup, but oh well.'_ Cruz headed over to the table he had sat at yesterday and found Roderich, Alfred, and Antonio in mid-conversation.

"Uh…" Antonio was looking at Alfred, hesitating about something, "Is this something that's going to get me in trouble?"

"That would depend." Roderich closed his notebook and set it on his lap.

Cruz decided to assume they were talking about the heist that Roderich was planning for the afternoon.

"On what?" Antonio stared at Roderich.

"On how fast you run." Cruz sat to the right of Roderich, on the seat next to the box that was on the seat right next to Roderich. He knew Roderich would have moved it, but he was quite fine with having some personal space while he was drinking his lunch. _'And running fast is pretty much standard par for any situation that someone is in where they could get in trouble.'_

"Oh this is sounding like a heist and a half." Antonio commented, looking at his empty tray. He had either eaten that really fast, or Cruz had taken longer than he had thought in that lunch line. Oh well. Dumping the soup on Maria's head ended up taking a little time, too. Cruz smirked at remembering the look on her face. _'Serves her right for trash-talking Matthew.'_

Alfred continued happily munching on his burger, "Dude it's gonna be awesome! You totally gotta join up with us!"

Cruz leaned over and looked down at Alfred's tray, wondering how many he had talked the lunch lady into giving him today. He leaned back again and twisted open the bottle cap of his drink and gulped it down.

Roderich gave Cruz a quizzical look, "Is that all you're having? Just a drink?"

Cruz stopped and swallowed before answering, "Yeah. What about it?" Cruz returned the confused look, "Not hungry." _'And soup is pretty much inedible when you dump it on the Queen of Perfume's head.'_ Matthew would have laughed out loud at the nickname. Cruz smiled a bit and went back to drinking his lunch.

"Oh, look at it this way, your punishment if we get caught is going to be absolutely nothing compared to mine for putting it together in the first place." Roderich spoke up, interrupting whatever conversation Antonio had been having with Alfred, and bringing Cruz out of his thoughts.

Antonio seemed to hesitate a little more before finally agreeing, "Sure, why not. Might as well have some fun before the day is over."

Roderich smiled, "I appreciate the help. Are we all done then?" He looked back and forth between everyone's trays and gazed at Cruz's now-empty bottle for a moment, before turning his head away again.

"I am." Alfred smiled cheerfully.

"I guess so." Antonio finished off his drink.

"Yeah." Cruz shrugged and twisted the plastic bottle in his hands. _'I don't recycle. Deal with it. I don't even want to hear your eco-lecture.'_

Roderich gave the empty bottle another look, "Good, then we're off to the student council room. Oh, Antonio, bring that bucket with you." Roderich motioned to the yellow bucket.

Cruz looked at the mentioned yellow bucket with raised eyebrows. Why was that even sitting there…probably better to not ask. Cruz shook his head and continued to crumple the empty plastic bottle in his hands.

"Sure. Should I just put the stack of papers in here?" Antonio glanced inside the bucket.

'_Papers?'_ Cruz raised an eyebrow. The papers he was talking about must be sitting on the other side of Antonio. Which meant he had both seats beside him blocked off. _'Must not have wanted anyone to sit there…that or he was specifically thinking of someone that he didn't want to sit there.'_

"That'll work. And save me from carrying it." Roderich smiled.

"Then we're off!" Alfred grinned and stood up, picking up his tray.

"Off to get ourselves in major trouble…" Cruz grumbled, standing up and heading for the trash can. _'But it would be fun anyway. So no point in being so sour about it.'_ Cruz smiled a bit and looked at the crumpled empty bottle before rolling his eyes and tossing it in the recycling bin when Roderich had looked the other way.

"Oh what's life without a little fun in it?" Roderich followed along behind him, taking his tray and Antonio's, and carrying them on top of his box and notebook.

Alfred took the trays off the top of the box and dumped them into the trashcan for Roderich.

"Thank you." Roderich commented, heading for the doors.

"No problem at all! Your hands were kinda full." Alfred laughed, "What's in the box anyway?"

Cruz followed along behind, listening in to the conversation they were having, but not interrupting it at all. He glanced around before they left and spotted Maria sitting with her friends, still covered in the red soup. The bowl wasn't on her head anymore though. Pity. Cruz smirked and stepped out of the cafeteria, following Alfred and Roderich through the hall.

"Balloons." Roderich answered Alfred's question.

"Yay! We get to throw water balloons?" Alfred looked even more excited than he had earlier.

"Indeed." Roderich smiled.

'_At least today isn't turning out to be all that bad. A little boring in some parts, and frustrating in others, but overall not bad.'_ Cruz nodded slightly to himself and watched as Antonio pushed the yellow bucket down the hall in front of them.

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Matthew opened his eyes and discovered he was now (at least it appeared to be) in the school building. He sat up and glanced around him. "Eh? Well…it's better than that dark, cold space." He glanced around him, looking at the four hallways.

He peered down each one, but didn't see anything, "Nothing down any of them…at least not that I can see…well then. I choose…" He pointed and spun around, stopping only when he started feeling dizzy, "This one." He started walking down the hall he stopped at and hugged himself. Hopefully this dream was better than the last one. He didn't mind remembering the past a bit, but he preferred if it was happy memories and not memories from when he thought Cruz was going to use him for a punching bag. Matthew smiled a bit.

"Eh…those messages are still on my phone now that I think about it…" Matthew giggled lightly to himself, remembering the censored text messages being passed back and forth. It was rather funny that Cruz's phone did that.

Matthew perked up a bit and began walking with a slight bounce in his step. So far this dream wasn't bad. He was remembering pleasant things and didn't have to dwell on being tired, actually he wasn't feeling tired at all. As he was going, Matthew stopped to peer in a classroom door that had suddenly appeared on his left. "I didn't see this when I was walking…" He peered in through the window and saw himself with Cruz, attempting to help the other study for an upcoming test.

"Oh that's right! That was when Cruz was told by the principal he had to improve his grades otherwise he would be held back!" Matthew laughed, Cruz would have ordinarily told Mr. Smith off, but Matthew had volunteered to help so the principal had walked off thinking the conversation was over. "Eh…Cruz wasn't happy about it at all though." Matthew leaned against the door, watching through the window, "Then again…he wasn't happy with me usually. I guess I kept interfering with how he normally reacted to people…oops. I should apologize for that." Matthew tilted his head and continued to watch for a moment.

Shaking his head, Matthew continued on down the hallway, humming a tune to himself as he went. "But the first year was still fun! Even if I did get bullied a lot…" He glanced down a hallway that he was passing by and discovered Cruz was hitting someone over the head. "Eh…the memories here…they're going in order." He looked back down the hall he had just walked and discovered the door was no longer in sight, despite him only going a couple steps.

He glanced back down the hall again and watched himself stop Cruz from punching the kid anymore, "Then…the principal should be appearing about…now." He pointed at the scene and the principal appeared as if he was walking and instantly started yelling at Cruz, though Matthew couldn't hear him.

"My memories are without sound." Matthew laughed, but watching himself as he stood in between Cruz and the principal. He remembered explaining the situation off as Cruz being provoked by a racial comment. The principal had instantly stopped his yelling and instead dragged the other student out of sight.

Which led to Matthew getting hit over the head by Cruz. Matthew winced. He still felt that hit like it had only been yesterday it had happened. But Cruz hadn't said anything when he hit him. He just glared at him, looking rather embarrassed.

Matthew smiled and continued walking again. He thought he heard a female voice somewhere far-off, but ignored it and kept going.

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><p>XD Cruz continues his revenge against Maria and I found a better way to have Matthew sleep rather than just a paragraph that says so. =w= Memories are a lot less confusing this way, I think. Feedback? :3 Leave me a review! 8D<p> 


	19. Hiding in the bathroom and Almost lunch

By the way guys: I hate to say this but, if I stop updating for a while, please don't think I gave up on the story. =w=; More than likely I wound up in the hospital. The bug I have is going around and it's what happened to my coworker's daughter because an infection set in. So I'm short one infection (thankfully) of being somewhere without internet access. Just a warning for you all. :3 Moving on to happier things~ XD

_Italics_- if you see this, it's a memory okay? Shortest and least repetitive way of doing this! XD You all should know that just from experience. XD

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Cruz sat hunched over, hidden behind a potted plant (that was rather conveniently located where he was supposed be at), waiting for the school board members to show up. He was located in the far hall of the second floor. Where the windows were positioned, he could see the front courtyard, as well as the windows from in front of the library. Cruz peered down. He could see the principal pacing in front of the school, arms behind his back. It looked like he was talking to himself. Cruz squinted and could just barely make out Alfred spinning around in the lobby.

'_He is having entirely too much fun with this.'_

Beside where Cruz was kneeling, two buckets of water sat on the floor, waiting for Cruz to drop them off at their designated spot.

_._

"_Cruz, I need you to take these two buckets of water and place them at the top of the ramp that connects the second and first floors. Antonio will knock them over as he's running down the ramp to give himself some extra time if it's needed to get to his fifth class."_

_._

No problem. But first he had to wait until the school board members showed up so he could begin the assault. Besides, no point in delivering full buckets of water when the bell hadn't even rung yet.

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind then the bell did ring. Cruz glared up at the speaker, which was unfortunately just above his head. But he stayed where he was, crouched behind the plant. Hopefully no one would see him. He doubted they would, the only reason someone would come this far up the hall was to look out the window, and what would the point of that be?

"Fifteen minutes…" Cruz grumbled, keeping his bow and arrow poised at the ready. The window in front of him was just open at the bottom enough to let the arrow fly out. Fortunately it was warm outside, otherwise Cruz would be swearing at the cold. He did _not_ like winter.

In front of him lay a pile of soft-tipped arrows, all speared with copies of the class testing results. Whether or not the school board would actually take the time to look at the papers that were being fired at them, remained to be seen.

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"_The school board committee will be showing up at noon. We all need to be in position and ready for them when they get here. Cruz, you're going to be doing a bit of waiting, I apologize for that."_

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No problem at all. Cruz noticed Alfred had vanished from the first floor lobby. "He's much better suited for running." Behind him, the halls had almost completely emptied out except for a few trickling students making their way slowly to their next class.

Cruz had half a mind to tell them to hurry the heck up, but he would give away his position if he did that. So he shook his head and went back to keeping an eye out front, just in case they would show up early. Across the courtyard, he could see Roderich in front of the library windows, also equipped with bow and arrow. It looked like he was standing directly in front of (or behind if you were in the library) a potted plant that was about as tall as he was, so at least he was hidden from view. Provided no one came up beside him of course.

Cruz watched as Antonio ran across the lobby behind Roderich, getting into wherever his position was at. He knew Antonio had been told to fill up a closet with beach balls. _'How many did he fit in there if he was doing that this entire time? Geez.' _Cruz peered forward as a car pulled up to the front gate.

The principal looked up. School board member number one had arrived. He looked up at Roderich, who was motioning for Cruz to start with the first arrow.

Cruz nodded and pulled the bow back. "Fire one." He sent the arrow flying across the yard, hitting the male just as he got to where the principal was standing, "Hey, not a bad shot."

Both males looked around, gaping at the empty grounds around them. "Did they seriously not realize that came from above them?" Cruz blinked, "If they look up, we're screwed." Cruz shrugged and fired off another arrow. This one hit the principal. "Oops. Wrong one. Oh well."

Another car pulled up, distracting the principal as he had just picked up the arrow, while the first school board member held onto the other one.

Roderich's turn to start this assault. Cruz watched as an arrow flew and hit the target before she even made it through the front gate. He burst out laughing at the site of her face. She was NOT happy. With the window open, Cruz could hear her cursing out loud. It was a soft-tipped arrow for crying out loud! What, did she get a paper cut?

Mr. Smith seemed to be apologizing profusely, and Roderich sent another arrow flying at the female board member. This time, she saw it coming and ducked, and the arrow ended up hitting the car instead.

"Oh. Nice shot." Cruz nodded, seeing it had hit the tire, "Give her a flat tire. Excellent idea." He looked over at Roderich, judging by the reaction, that was NOT what he had been aiming for. Cruz laughed and aimed his arrow again. Third car was pulling up. This one had several board members riding in it. Apparently they decided to carpool. Well. That would just make it more fun.

Cruz aimed and sent another arrow at the first male to start up the sidewalk. It hit the top of his head and sent the wig (that Cruz didn't know actually was a wig) flying off and into the grass.

Cruz looked over at Roderich who looked like he was doubled over from laughing so hard. "I didn't try that!" Cruz made a mental note to hit Roderich over the back of the head. "Damn it." He aimed and sent another arrow flying at the second person who had gotten out of the car, as the now-bald committee member went chasing after his wig.

Mr. Smith just stood a little ways off watching the assault. He didn't even look around to see where the arrows were coming from.

"Got her." Cruz nodded in satisfaction seeing his arrow hit the female target. Roderich had regained his composure and was now firing an arrow at the third person, who attempted to duck, but got hit anyway.

Cruz grinned and set up his bow with three arrows, "Hey I wonder if I can…" He sent all three arrows flying, hitting three of the committee members at once, "Yes! Triple points!" Cruz looked down at his last arrow, most of the committee were now stalking for the doors, with Mr. Smith following close behind, still apologizing.

Cruz aimed for the school board member with the wig (which was now back on his head) and fired the arrow, "Try this again. Nope." The arrow took the wig off again. This time the wig went flying into a classroom with an open window. "Well. My bad." Cruz stood up and noticed Roderich was doubled-over laughing again. "I'm outta here." He tucked the bow under his arm and grabbed both buckets of water.

Quickly going down the hallway, as fast as he could pushing two buckets and trying not to drop the bow, Cruz made his way to the ramp and stopped. He positioned them so one was at each side of the top of the ramp and ran down the ramp, still carrying his bow. "Dump the bow, dump the bow…" Cruz muttered, trying to figure out where he could fling it to.

He spotted a locker decorated with stickers and tried the lock, "Hey. Unlocked. Perfect." He dumped the bow inside and shut the locker door quietly, sprinting away without spinning the dial, "Works for me!" He could hear yelling down the hallway, sounding like it was getting closer, "Crap." Cruz looked around in a panic and ducked into the bathroom. He leaned against the door, waiting until the running footsteps had gone by before peeking out into the hallway. Somehow…he had to get to class. Cruz made a face and quietly snuck out, looking both ways before darting down the hall.

_._

"_You're going to have the hardest time getting to class I'm afraid. If you have to, just skip the class and hide out somewhere."_

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Cruz shook his head. He did not want to skip unless it was absolutely necessary. He ducked underneath a table that (fortunately) had a floor-length table-cloth covering it and hid. "I know I heard voices…" Cruz muttered under his breath. Sure enough, he watched a group of shoes run by.

Fortunately they didn't think to look underneath the table. Cruz waited until the sound of running footsteps had quieted until he peered out. No one in sight. "It feels like I'm on the run from the law." He crawled out and hurried down the hall, "Get to class…get to class.." Cruz spotted his classroom door. Just up ahead! Perfect! He heard someone swearing, coming up the hall behind him and ran into the bathroom.

So close. And yet so far away. Cruz ran to the back of the bathroom, hiding in the stall where the janitor kept all the cleaning supplies. They wouldn't look in here hopefully. He heard the door open and panicked. "I feel stupid…" Cruz grabbed a sheet and pulled it over his head, hiding behind several mops and cleaning buckets. He crouched as low as he could get to the floor, making himself blend in the best he could.

Someone was going through and slamming open the stall doors, making sure no one was standing up on one of the toilets. Cruz made a face. _'Please don't pull the sheet, please don't pull the sheet. Why is a sheet in here anyway?'_ He noticed the largest yellow bucket beside him was probably big enough for him to sit in, so he climbed into it and pulled himself quietly towards the wall. Grabbing another bucket he placed it upside down on top of his, so it looked like the janitor had put two buckets on top of one another to save space.

'_Don't pull the sheet and look in the buckets…'_ Cruz kept repeating it over and over to himself. He would have a tough time explaining himself out of this one. Why would someone hide in a bucket in the janitor stall of the bathroom? Playing hide-and-seek? Suitable excuse for someone in elementary school. Not sophomore year of high school though.

The janitor stall door slammed open. Cruz held his breath, listening to the breathing of whoever it was. _'Please don't let my phone go off…'_ He started wishing he had put some towels or something on top of his head so at least it looked like the bucket was full if whoever the person was did check inside. Cruz waited, still holding his breath, as the person pushed aside some random items and (by the sounds of it) yanked the sheet down.

But they didn't check inside the two buckets, and instead stalked out. Cruz blinked as he heard the bathroom door open and close, and let out the breath he had been holding. "Safe…" He whispered quietly. He lifted up the top bucket slightly, eyes peeking out through the small crack. No one in sight. "I'll just stay in here…" He replaced the bucket and stayed put. Taking out his phone, he sent a text to Alfred, Antonio, and Roderich (whose numbers he had gotten while they were in planning stage).

_**One of you all can come up with a plan to get me out of this bathroom later. I'm staying put for now. Had a way too close call already.**_

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Matthew blinked a couple times. The nurse station slowly came into view. The bed Arthur had been on earlier was now empty. "Eh…he must have gone back to class…" Matthew sat up slowly.

"Oh, are you awake now? How are you feeling?" The nurse peeked around the curtain.

"Better." Matthew smiled up at her, "Thank you."

"No problem. There's only about fifteen minutes left until lunch, so why don't you stay laying down for a bit longer?" The nurse asked, though it sounded more like a Lay-down-and-stay-there-until-lunch way of talking rather than an option.

Matthew nodded and lay back down, staring up at the ceiling. At least he had been able to get sleep after all. He smiled. And the dream was nice. He closed his eyes, wondering how Cruz was doing in school. Hopefully he was alright, but he had Maria (now that Matthew finally remembered her name) to cheer him up right?

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><p>And Matthew is so completely oblivious to what is going on back at school. XD Cruz was the only one who didn't have any interaction with the other three, but he was spending most of his time hiding in this chapter. XD Leave me a review! (I still haven't checked my email for the last two stories though XD )<p> 


	20. Still in the bathroom and Nothing wrong

So there were some comments on the fact of where Cruz was hiding…it was the best hiding spot I could think of on short notice. XD It was either that or have him climb out a bathroom window, and let's be honest here, those are usually small, and all I can see is Cruz getting stuck, anyone else see this? While it would be a hilarious start to another fanfic…not this one. XD

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Cruz lifted the top bucket again. It was completely silent in the bathroom, and had been for a little while now. Still no way he was going to risk even trying to get to class yet. He gently set the top bucket down on the floor beside him and slowly climbed out, stretching out his legs and arms to get some feeling back in them. "Geez. Never doing that again. Not even if someone paid me." Cruz grumbled.

He half wished he had a pack of cigarettes since the window was cracked slightly, but that would just get him in even more trouble. The principal had already caught him doing that once before. Cruz sighed. Even Matthew couldn't get him out of that one. Cruz shook his head. He peered out of the last stall. No one in sight. Didn't sound like anyone was outside the door either. Cruz crept over to the door quietly and listened carefully. There was no sound of any footsteps…

"_Attention students."_

Cruz jumped and ran back to the last stall. He swore quietly once he was back inside the janitor's stall. What the heck did he go running for? It wasn't as if the voice was right outside the bathroom!

"_Obviously we have some practical jokesters in this school building."_

"No kidding…how long did it take all of you to figure that one out?" Cruz grumbled. He flipped one of the buckets upside down and sat on top of it. No way was he sitting on this floor.

"_As of noon, most of you would recognize this time as the start of your fifth class, there were several students NOT in class."_

"Surprise." Cruz took out his phone, no response yet. Hopefully someone had an idea, or at least realized they gotten a message to begin with. He rolled his eyes and tossed the phone up and down carelessly.

"_As of noon, the school board showed up in front of the school. And promptly got a welcome from several of the students. By means of bow and arrow."_

Cruz grinned. Served them right. He was expecting to have had really bad aim, but actually he had only missed three times, and technically he got the hair of the second guy twice, so it wasn't a total miss. And besides, they were soft-tipped arrows, not regular arrows. It wasn't like anyone got hurt. Big deal.

"_One of these arrows did damage to a car that was parked out front of the building. And upon entering the building, the school board members, as well as the principal, discovered that the front lobby had been completely covered in water and soap."_

Ah. That must have been the one where Roderich shot the tire. Seriously doubt he was aiming for that anyhow. Cruz continued tossing his phone up and down, careful to keep an ear out for the sounds of anyone approaching the bathroom. He seriously doubted any students would be leaving their classrooms right now anyway. Which meant the only ones coming in would be the school board and the principal looking for the students responsible for wreaking havoc. And he could easily say he was skipping class. Cruz smirked a bit. Wouldn't be the first time he had used that excuse.

"_When attempting to give chase to the hooli-student responsible for this, we had buckets of water poured down the stairs, fell down the stairs, had a bucket kicked down the stairs at us, had tomatoes thrown at us, had beach balls come flying out of nowhere…"_

"Oh just say hooligans like you wanted to." Cruz commented out loud. He caught his phone after tossing it again. Still no message. Cruz tossed it up in the air again, sighing a bit. Did they even get his message? He wasn't sure about the signal from inside a bucket.

"_Had more tomatoes thrown at us, and when pursuing a student down a ramp, slipped on water and slid the whole way down and across the floor!"_

"I thought there was only plans to throw one barrage of tomatoes?" Cruz tilted his head before shrugging it off. "Meh. Maybe they were mistaken." He leaned back against the stall wall and waited. He still didn't hear anything. They must have given up. Which probably meant it was safe to go back to class. But if he was going to skip this long, he might as well skip the whole damn thing. Going in now would just make it rather obvious.

"_And now, that we have been searching the halls to discover them to be completely empty…"_

"Well no duh. You expect us to stand in one spot and let us be caught that easily?" Cruz rolled his eyes, "They really must think we're a bunch of idiots." He tossed his phone up in the air again, holding out his hand and catching it in the palm of his hand, "Geez…"

"_We are giving the students behind this act exactly TEN MINUTES. To get to the office."_

"Like that's ever going to happen. Only a couple of idiots would admit to doing all that." Cruz sighed. _'And that would get me expelled for sure.'_

"_If no one comes in ten minutes, then punishment will follow to all students found to have participated in this little charade!"_

*click*

Cruz looked up at the speaker that was above the stall he was sitting in. It ended rather abruptly. And now his phone was going off. Cruz caught the device and looked at the message: _**STAY WHERE YOU'RE AT. DO NOT MOVE. They don't have anything that says it was us!**_ Not like he was planning on it anyhow. He raised his eyebrows as two more messages came.

_**No problem. Staying put in study hall. **_–Alfred

_**Roger. Hopefully you two are hiding out okay, sorry to hear about the predicament you're in, Cruz. I wish we could come and help, but we're stuck in study hall! D:**_ -Antonio

Cruz rolled his eyes. Right. Even if he had sent them that text and they had gotten it, they were in class right now, it wasn't as if they could just leave and find some way of getting him out of here. And where would he go once he _was_ out of here? The guidance office more than likely, because he was not going to class and looking like an idiot for showing up this late.

Cruz tossed the phone up and down in the air again. But this was going to be a boring way to spend the next…twenty minutes. Cruz rolled his eyes after looking at his watch. What the heck was he supposed to do for twenty minutes? Taking a nap would be too risky. Especially when no one showed up in the ten minute timeframe.

Cruz shook his head. Today was certainly interesting. If someone had told him this morning that he'd end up hiding in a bathroom after lunch he would have laughed and then punched the guy (or girl). But…here he was. Surprise.

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Matthew trudged out of the nurse's station, rubbing at his eyes sleepily. At least the nap had left him feeling a little refreshed. And after lunch was their free class (hopefully that hadn't changed) so he could get a little more sleep. Matthew perked up at the thought and happily went to the cafeteria. The line was mostly gone by the time he got there, so he didn't have to wait long to be handed a tray of some sort of pasta. Well. At least it looked edible. Matthew smiled as he remembered their first meal. He still hadn't told Arthur and Lovino that they drank an entire bottle of gravy.

He made his way back to the usual table and sat down next to someone who looked like he should be a teacher here. At least he was old enough to be. His outward personality didn't match that of any counselor or teacher he had met yet. And Lovino clearly didn't seem to like this person. Of course, neither did Arthur, who looked very annoyed about something.

"Hello there!"

Matthew looked up to see the adult sitting beside him smiling cheerfully.

"Eh…hello. Who are you?" Matthew tilted his head slightly. He blinked when he suddenly found himself being patted on the head. _'Ehhhh….'_

"I'm Roma, Lovino's my grandson~" Roma continued smiling, "You look like you slept well!"

"Eh. I just woke up." Matthew blushed a bit, "Oh. That's right. Thanks Arthur." He turned to the Englishman sitting across from him, "For staying at the nurse station with me." _'Especially considering I seemed to have upset you at one point in the conversation…'_ Matthew was still inwardly panicking about having said the wrong thing, even though he wasn't quite sure what he had said that would have upset Arthur. _'Maybe he just wasn't aware Alfred liked him that much? That could be it…'_

"Hm? You're welcome." Arthur smiled, "You didn't miss much in that last class we had anyhow."

Lovino stared past Arthur, causing Matthew to follow his gaze and did a double-take on the yardstick he saw propped up next to Arthur, "Clearly we all missed something. Hey, where's Gilbert at?" Lovino glanced around, "he's not here yet."

'_Oh. He's not here after all.'_ Matthew looked around panicking. _'That dark space…'_

Roma blinked, "Hm? Gilbert? He's in the hospital. He was the medical emergency this morning."

Matthew looked at Roma in horror. _'Eh? That place really was bad for his health then! I knew it felt really cold!'_

Arthur promptly started choking on the mouthful he apparently had, "Say something like that with a little more care, would you?" He yelled, after managing to swallow.

Matthew stared at Roma in disbelief, "E-eh…is he okay?"

"He's fine, he's fine. His father's with him at the moment!" Roma smiled, Matthew supposed the smile was supposed to be reassuring but it wasn't doing much for him at the moment. It actually felt like it was making it worse.

Lovino tapped his fork on the plate, thinking back to the conversations they'd had with Gilbert the day before, "Uh… I thought he lived with his mother."

Matthew nodded in silence, "That's…what he said…" Matthew paused, his fork resting on the top of the bed of pasta. _'Wait…if Gilbert was the medical emergency and I was talking to him as if we were right next to each other…then what about me? But I'm still here…so I'm fine…right? Nothing happened…'_ Matthew twirled the fork around in the pasta absentmindedly.

"Regis has been in town the whole time. He and Gilbert's mother just found each other shortly after the mission for change at your school started, so Regis came here to talk to Gilbert." Roma started eating calmly, as if nothing was wrong about the conversation they were having.

"Well. I imagine Gilbert's morning was not entirely to his liking then. Especially not if he's in the hospital now." Arthur grumbled, "And I do wish he would stop calling me."

Matthew blinked up to see Arthur was glaring at his phone.

"Oh? Who's he?" Roma looked over at him, eyes sparkling curiously.

"Stupid older brother." Arthur stuffed the phone back in his pocket, fuming slightly, "He's been calling me non-stop."

Matthew looked back down at his plate and continued eating in silence. _'I'm fine…there's nothing wrong with me. That was just a…really strange dream I was having. That's all…right?'_ The voice in the back of his head was telling him he should ask the nurse about it, but he really didn't feel like going and bothering her again.

"He wants to talk to you, you should answer~" Roma cheered happily.

"NO." Arthur growled.

_More like you don't feel like finding out if something is actually wrong. Here we go again._

Lovino looked at Arthur, "Don't bother. He doesn't comprehend what no means."

"That explains a lot." Arthur grumbled.

Matthew bit down on the fork hard enough to break the ends of the plastic utensil. He paused and carefully picked up his napkin, acting like he was wiping sauce off and instead spat out the bits of plastic. Roma must have seen, because he was giving him a sideways glance before responding to Arthur and Lovino.

Roma pouted, "How mean! I know what no means! It's what stubborn people say when they won't talk to someone who could actually help them."

"You are the rudest, most inconsiderate, lousy excuse for an adult I have ever met!" Lovino yelled.

'_Eh…that was really loud…'_ Matthew found himself jerked from his train of thought at Lovino's outburst and sat quietly in his seat, unsure of what to say.

"I love you too, Lovino." Roma sighed.

"It was much quieter in the nurse station…" Matthew whispered finally. _'Even if I was having strange dreams with someone who's now in the hospital…was he in the hospital, then too? Or was he still here? I'm so confused!'_

"Mhm." Arthur agreed.

Matthew caught Roma watching him and turned his head away slightly, continuing to eat with his now semi-broken fork. _'Nothing wrong with me…'_

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><p>I had forgotten how fast the chapters go when they're all at the same spot. Well. Except for poor Gilbert, whose chapter is forthcoming. :3 Leave me a review!<p> 


	21. Screw this and Wait, I'm the only one?

So fanfiction finally sent me the emails (all 50+ of them) to my inbox this morning. =_= Only took a day and a half. Geez. Anyway, if anyone reading this has read the latest chapter update (21) to British and Lovino Styles, then you'll know that the end is coming. For those of you who haven't, now you know. XD

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><p>.<p>

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Cruz hit his head against the wall several times. If there was anything more boring than sitting in a janitor stall in the bathroom, he couldn't think of it right now. Even listening to a teacher gave you something to do. What do you do when you're stuck hiding? Cruz stood up, cursing slightly as he stretched out his legs. No way could he go to class this late. And he didn't want to risk going in the hallway anyhow in case those stupid idiots are still running around trying to find them.

Cruz walked around the bathroom instead, pacing back and forth, both annoyed and frustrated. At least he could use this time to get his thoughts in order. What thoughts, he had no clue. And that really wasn't helping. Okay so think to that letter Matthew wrote, that seemed like a pretty good place to start. Why, he had no clue. Considering that stupid, okay not so stupid, blonde wasn't coming back. Cruz scowled and continued pacing, his arms crossed across his chest.

Matthew had said in the letter that when he came to school he didn't exist. What the heck was that even supposed to mean? _'I talked to him, didn't I? Didn't that make him feel like he existed at all?' _Cruz leaned against one of the sinks and frowned. He knew when he was "going out" with Soup-head Maria he had been, completely by accident, ignoring Matthew. Maybe that's where the feelings of non-existence came in. So basically that was his fault. Cruz sighed heavily. He had said his classmates don't see him, well that much was obvious, Matthew got run into so many times in the hallway he probably had, used to have, permanent bruises going up and down his arms. Cruz sighed again. Normally when he walked beside Matthew, that didn't happen, at least not much, because most people would see Cruz and stay away. Cruz smirked a bit. But again, souphead distracted him. Why did he go out with her again?

He called the assembly pointless…that he had a good point on. Obviously it didn't do any good at all. '_He said he tried to speak up more…uh…when was that? Was that to other people when souphead was around me?'_ Cruz tilted his head. It was possible with Cruz, technically, going out with Maria, Matthew had felt lonely, so maybe that was what he was referring to. But if that was indeed the case, then that also was Cruz's fault, as well as anyone who ignored him. _'You called yourself an invisible person when you are alive…so you'd rather be a ghost? Where is the fun in that?'_ Cruz started pacing around in a circle again. _'Sick of trying…?'_ Cruz scowled. So he had tried more than once, and Cruz had been too blind to notice. Surprise.

Cruz stopped and hit his head against the wall. _'Idiot. And I'm sure my stupid phone messages back and forth didn't help either.'_ Even though Matthew hadn't mentioned that, fortunately. Cruz kept his forehead leaning against the wall and stared at the floor. _'React how we want to…isn't that what the principal himself said?'_ Cruz straightened up and looked at one of the windows, staring at the blue sky that was outside. _'So even if we are reacting the way we want to, we're getting in trouble anyhow. That makes sense.'_ Cruz rolled his eyes and looked towards the door. Maybe he should just head for guidance. Ugh. _'I think I've been in there once_._' _Cruz shrugged and pulled open the bathroom door anyhow. Screw it. Staying in here certainly wasn't doing him any good.

He shuffled down the hallway, a little surprised to find it completely empty. Somehow he expected the school board idiots to still be walking around looking for them, but maybe they gave up. Cruz continued walking, headed for the guidance office, even though he really wasn't looking forward to the idea of sitting in there. But class was almost over anyhow. Another ten minutes or so and it would be. He could sit in guidance for that long at least. And hopefully no one would ask him if his teacher sent him down there. Cruz would have an awful time explaining why he wasn't in class at all. _'Could always just say I got lost in my thoughts and gave up.'_ Cruz rolled his eyes.

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Matthew was currently curled up in a tight ball underneath his covers. They had finished lunch early, and since this bell was a free time for them, they had been allowed to go back to their rooms. Thankfully. It was rather quiet without Gilbert in the room though. Arthur was swinging his legs back and forth above him, Matthew found it rather funny to see the two shoes going back and forth.

He peeked out across the room and watched Lovino scowling at his grandfather, who just smiled cheerfully right back. Avoiding that person seemed the best option for right now. He was looking at Matthew rather suspiciously during lunch. _'But reading minds is impossible, right?'_ Matthew shrunk underneath the covers. He would have closed his eyes and gone to sleep, but a different voice suddenly started speaking, causing Matthew to jump a bit.

"Excuse me…" The nurse had been the one who peered into the room, "I have an announcement to make for you three."

Matthew lifted his head up from under the covers slightly. _'Announcement? About what? Maybe an update to Gilbert?'_ He was slightly hoping it was the last one, he was worried about the normally-cheerful german.

"Your principal called, you four can go back to class tomorrow." The nurse smiled cheerfully.

"That was fast! We were only here a couple days!" Arthur exclaimed.

"We can go home!" Lovino held up both hands in the air, "Oh thank you!"

Matthew's eyes widened and he sat up straight in bed, "Eh. That'll be nice…it-it's really okay that we go home now?" Somehow Matthew doubted any of them had learned anything about dealing with their emotional problems, but apparently this facility staff was putting a lot of faith in their friends and families if they were going to send them home.

"Yup!" The nurse smiled in return at them, "Gilbert will be attending with you three tomorrow, you four have one last assembly to give to the school."

"Oh no." Arthur moaned and, by the sounds of it, collapsed backwards on the bed, "I knew it was too good to be true."

Matthew started laughing. _'Even if we do have to show up at the assembly, at least Gilbert will be there! That means he's okay!'_

"What's this assembly about?" Lovino asked.

Matthew looked over at the nurse, curiously.

"You have to tell your classmates you're alive. Otherwise they'll think they're seeing ghosts." The nurse responded, "So the principal will be holding an assembly tomorrow that _all four of you_ will be speaking at."

"Eh?" Matthew's eyes widened again, "Do I have to?" _'I don't want to speak at the assembly!'_

"Gaaaaah…" Lovino moaned.

"You guys can do it! I have faith in you~" Roma cheered.

"DON'T." Arthur and Lovino both yelled in unison.

Matthew whimpered and buried himself under his covers as the nurse left the room, after stating that they could pack their clothes and prepare for their ride home. _'Why…why do we have to speak…'_ He thought the idea over for a minute before smiling. He couldn't resist in the absence of Gilbert, someone had to say it. Matthew raised his leg and tapped the bottom of Arthur's bed, "Bets on who's going to get tackled first?"

Lovino let out what sounded like a strangled curse word through his pillow, which he now had pressed tightly to his face. Roma looked at Lovino in concern, "You shouldn't do that…"

"I am betting nothing." Arthur spoke up, rather defiantly, "I'd say clear the runway between Antonio and Lovino though."

"OH SHUT UP!" Lovino yelled, throwing the pillow down.

"Ehhh…you don't think Alfred is going to tackle you?" Matthew leaned out over the side of the bed, peering upwards.

"NO." Arthur responded, not hesitating at all, "He can stay away from me, I will take my yardstick with if I have to."

"No no no no no no. Leave that here." Roma spoke up hastily, waving a hand around, "No hitting people!"

"Are we going back the same way we got here?" Matthew asked, blinking for a moment.

"Uh…" Roma tilted his head, "I don't think so…sending ambulances here would be rather strange."

"One ride in that thing was enough, thank you." Lovino grumbled.

"Eh? I thought it was rather fun." Matthew laughed, "Wait. Ambulance? You guys got to ride in an ambulance?"

"What did you ride in?" Arthur peered over the side of the bed.

"Yeah anyway." Lovino looked over, "Ambulance for me."

"I got a hearse." Matthew rubbed the back of his head, blushing a bit.

"THAT'S CREEPY!" Lovino yelled, recoiling in horror.

"I don't envy you a bit." Arthur commented, "I was less than thrilled about the ambulance."

"I wonder what Gilbert rode in." Matthew tilted his head, "It seems strange if I was the only one in a hearse."

"Back or front?" Roma, however, looked curious.

"Back." Matthew blinked.

"In a coffin?" Lovino looked even more horrified.

"Eh? No. I was just laying in the back on a bed of sheets." Matthew shuddered, "I'm not riding in a casket! I draw the line at the casket!" He flailed his arms around.

Roma laughed, "That would be taking it a step too far I think."

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><p>8D There was a little more at the end of this one than British Style and Lovino Style. But this chapter also wasn't insanely long like the other two. XD Review~<p> 


	22. Ehhhh, riding in a casket

After typing up the last two chapters, I decided I was going to split up what would have been the last chapter into two, just so there's not a big timeskip right in the middle of the chapter. :D That and it would have ended up being really long. So this chapter is still the day before they go back, though it's more like the afternoon now. Oh and sorry, no Cruz in this chapter. :3 These chapter updates are dedicated to Gilbert, Lovino, Matthew, and Arthur. XD

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><p>.<p>

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Matthew looked in the back of the hearse, frozen in one spot. There was a casket. In the back of the hearse. Thankfully no lid, but…were they expecting him to ride in that? Matthew shuddered. That was definitely on his list of things to NOT do while he was alive. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Lovino grumbling about riding in the ambulance. He wandered over and peered around the door as Lovino was crawling in, "I'll trade…please?" He added.

"I'm good. You have fun in your hearse." Lovino smiled cheerfully and waved at Matthew, "Good luck with that."

"Ehhh…I don't want to ride in that thing…" Matthew looked over at it, shuddering again, "I didn't have the casket the first time." Why do I have to ride in a casket? Matthew whimpered and walked back over to the hearse. He peered in, standing on his tiptoes, and saw blankets lining the inside of the casket. He really was expected to lay in that. Matthew sighed, "One more experience that Alfred will never have." He crawled in and shuddered, but crawled into the casket anyway, "It's a good thing there's no lid. My claustrophobia would have major problems with this."

Matthew sighed and folded his hands on his stomach as the back doors were closed. Then again, that was probably _why_ there was no lid. Because he was claustrophobic. Matthew sighed. Thankfully they took that into account at least. Even though riding in this was not his idea of fun, nor was it on his list of things to do before he actually _did _die. Who wants to ride in a casket while they're alive? Vampires, obviously, if they existed, though Alfred was convinced they did. Matthew really couldn't think of anyone else who would want to ride in one of these things.

He hummed to himself as he watched the buildings go speeding by. _'It'd be even creepier if they had a funeral procession after the hearse.'_ Matthew sat up slightly, just to make sure there wasn't one, before laying back down again.

"You're going to be going in the back entrance of the hospital." The driver called.

"Eh?" Matthew blinked.

"You four are spending the night at the hospital and then going straight to school tomorrow. Your families will be attending the assembly tomorrow morning as well."

"Oh. Great." Matthew whispered, "Even more embarrassment."

"Soon as we get the casket in the doors, you'll be put on a gurney and covered with a white sheet so there's no chance of being recognized."

Yup. His claustrophobia was going to have a fit. Matthew sighed. Best to keep eyes closed during this. He glanced around him as the surrounding area suddenly got really dark, "Eh?"

"Pulling into the back doors now." The driver called.

"Oh. Okay." Matthew wasn't sure if he should sit up or stay laying down, so he opted to stay laying down until he saw the gurney come around.

"Alright Mr. Williams, let's get you on here." The nurse smiled at him cheerfully, "I just pushed one of your classmates up!" She slid the gurney up to the back of the hearse and Matthew crawled onto it slowly, settling down as she fastened him to it.

There goes the claustrophobia already. Matthew closed his eyes and didn't respond as the nurse was talking to him.

"Hm? Is something wrong?"

"Nothing." Matthew squeaked out after being covered with the sheet, "Faster I can get off this thing the better though."

"Roger. Make it move people!" The nurse called, suddenly running full force down the hallway.

'_Oh like this is helping.'_ Matthew thought. If he wasn't having such a hard time right now, it would be rather funny.

"Let's move, I got an emergency here!" The nurse called, continuing to push people out of the way if they didn't move fast enough, "Move it move it!"

The gurney swung around a corner and Matthew realized they were in a hospital room. _'That was fast!'_

"Oh? Which body is this?" Lovino's voice asked.

'_Thanks for calling me a body.'_ Matthew thought.

"Matthew Williams!" The nurse smiled and pulled the sheet off, "Okay, Mr. Williams, you can hop onto the bed." She unfastened the clips that were holding him to the cot.

Matthew instantly crawled off and happily sprawled himself out on the bed. Relief at last!

"And how was your casket ride?" Lovino asked.

"I NEVER want to do that again." Matthew shuddered, "I mean, they had blankets in there, and the top of the casket wasn't on, but I felt like a vampire, that was creepy!" Matthew quickly went under the covers to get rid of the coldness he was now feeling, "How was your ride?"

"Not that bad. If you ignore the fact that not a single road was paved." Lovino rolled his eyes and flipped through the channels with the tv remote, "At least we got tv in here! Missed this thing."

Matthew laughed lightly, he hadn't even realized the tv was there, but it was in the corner of the room next to Matthew, so he couldn't really see it anyhow. "I hope Gilbert will get here soon…" He looked around the room anxiously, "I wonder what's taking Arthur so long…?"

"Who knows. Maybe his ambulance got a flat tire over that unpaved road." Lovino grumbled. "I still can't believe you rode in a…oh here's someone."

Matthew watched as the same nurse who had brought him in pushed another gurney over to the bed beside Lovino. _'Eh? Arthur or Gilbert?'_ Matthew's gaze followed the nurse across the room.

"Here you are. You can move over to the bed now." The nurse smiled cheerfully at whoever was on the gurney.

"Oh gee, may I?" Gilbert crawled from the gurney and onto the waiting bed. He didn't waste any time going under the blankets, "Thanks. You didn't have to bring the Stiff in with you though."

'_Eh? Stiff?'_ Matthew tilted his head slightly. Who was Gilbert referring to? The person from earlier? But that meant he had stayed with Gilbert this entire time? That was nice of him.

"He was accompanying you though…we had to give him a ride as well…" The nurse paused in taking the gurney to look back at Gilbert.

"Ja, ja. Whatever." Gilbert scowled and she continued on her way and left the room, "Hello people~" He smiled cheerfully at Matthew and Lovino, "Hey where's Arthur at?"

"Not here yet. He might be giving the ambulance crew a hard time." Lovino raised an eyebrow at Gilbert, "Who were you calling stiff?"

Matthew looked at Gilbert, curious to know if he had been right or not.

"Him." Gilbert motioned at the door as Regis wandered into the room.

"…Eh." Matthew looked at him. _'Same person. He really did stay with Gilbert this entire time.'_

"So where the heck is Arthur at?" Lovino scowled, "Geez. Oh yeah, what'd you ride here in Gilbert?"

"A hearse." Gilbert rolled his eyes, "Complete with casket."

Matthew couldn't help but laugh when he heard Gilbert's response. It was obvious from the tone of his voice he hasn't appreciated the ride either.

"You weren't the only one after all." Lovino looked back at Matthew.

"Eh, I guess not! That's a relief! Those things aren't comfortable at all." Matthew smiled cheerfully. Gilbert probably wasn't claustrophobic though. _'I wonder if his casket had a lid?'_

"So what are we doing at this assembly tomorrow, just showing up?" Gilbert asked, not bothering to pay attention to the blonde who was now sitting right next to his bed.

Matthew looked back and forth between the blonde with long hair and Gilbert. _'I somehow get the feeling…that they don't get along very well. But still…Gilbert must mean something to him if he stayed beside Gilbert since this morning, right?'_

Lovino made a face, "I'd be happier _not_ showing up."

"I think we'd be in trouble if we didn't…" Matthew sighed, joining in on the conversation. He looked up as the nurse came in, pushing another gurney (actually it was probably the same one, it was still the same nurse anyway).

Lovino looked over as well, "Arthur Kirkland I presume."

"Oh do shut up."Arthur grumbled from underneath the blankets, causing Matthew to laugh a bit.

"Und a jolly hello to you too." Gilbert laughed as well.

Matthew watched as Arthur moved onto the empty bed that was beside him and situated himself under the covers. He glanced across the room as Lovino spoke up again, apparently he had gotten tired of the tv already.

Lovino stared at Gilbert, "So…I take it…you two are related after all?"

Matthew blinked in confusion. _'Eh? Oh. That conversation from last night, does he mean Ludwig and Gilbert?'_

Gilbert just glared in response to Lovino's question, "He's a bigger stiff than Ludwig."

'…_I'm not sure that was a yes, but it wasn't a no either. It would make sense if they were related. Those two really do look alike. Except for the difference in length of hair.'_ Matthew looked over at Arthur as the other male had turned to look at him as well.

Arthur tilted his head, "How are you holding up?"

"Eh. I'm fine. I could have done without the ride in the casket, though." Matthew sighed quietly.

"Excuse me…" Matthew glanced over to see Regis was glaring at Gilbert. _'I guess he didn't appreciate being called a stiff.'_

"You're excused, by all means, leave." Gilbert motioned to the door, "Shoo."

'_I'm sure he didn't appreciate that either.'_ Matthew noted the look on the blonde's face but was distracted by Arthur continuing their side-conversation.

"A casket? Really?" Arthur asked.

Matthew nodded in silence in response.

"Oh by the way, Gilbert."

Matthew blinked as Lovino spoke up again.

"Hm?" Gilbert glanced over at Lovino.

"Grandpa says hi~" Lovino smiled over at Gilbert. "He was that stupid counselor you were complaining about?"

'…_Stupid counselor…more like creepy atmosphere-reading counselor…' _Matthew shuddered and pulled the covers tighter and closer to his chin.

"Oh, ja, Roma? That's your grandpa?" Gilbert burst out laughing, "He reminded me so much of your ditzy brother, too!"

"Ditzy…" Lovino blinked, "Feli is ditzy?"

"Well what else would you call him?" Gilbert stared back with a blank expression on his face.

"Eh…" Matthew looked back over at Arthur, "It feels kind of strange to think we're going back to school tomorrow…"

Arthur nodded in silence.

"I don't want to speak at an assembly damn it!" Lovino growled through his pillow, which Matthew found he was now pressing to his face.

"Ja. And suffocating yourself is going to do what exactly?" Gilbert asked, the blank expression still on his face.

Lovino threw the pillow at the foot of his bed in frustration, "What are we even supposed to say tomorrow?"

"Ta-da?" Gilbert asked, raising his hands slightly.

"I will buy you lunch if you do that." Arthur spoke up.

'_Ehhhh…I don't think the principal would appreciate that much.'_ Matthew looked back and forth between the two. He was half-wondering if Arthur was bearing some ill-feelings towards the principal for having to participate in this mission for change.

"Deal!" Gilbert grinned, "Totally going to now!"

Matthew's eyes drifted back to Regis, who was now shaking his head silently. _'…He and Ludwig really do have similar traits though. Ludwig does that often when he's in class, too.'_ Matthew settled down and laid his head on the pillow, staring up at the ceiling. _'…well at least if we're going back to school, I won't have to worry about having that counselor…'_ Matthew sighed in relief at the thought of not having to deal with Roma giving him that look again. _'Thank you whoever decided that our classmates changed enough.'_

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><p>Three chapters done. I had hoped to get Awesome style done today too, but so not happening. Sorry! So it'll be tomorrow when I post these. XD<p> 


	23. Reunion: Forgot about the delicate phone

Okay guys. I love you all. But this will be the final chapter. :3 There may or may not be bonus chapters after this, but if there are, it'll just be stuff I had forgotten to add in while I was writing up. Such as their initial ride and actually arriving at the facility, I'm debating whether or not to add that on.

Oh and Fekete: I love you, too. I shall miss you greatly. :3

Procella, Youjustgotiggyrolled, ScienceWolf, UK's Only, Ellenthefox, SpiritOfTheMapleLeaf, Oceanfur (and all you other names I can't remember at the moment)... you guys are awesome. You kept reviewing over and over. Thank you. :3

Note: There is a large time skip, it is now the morning of the assembly, K? :3 LONG. LONG. LONG.

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><p>.<p>

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Matthew sat in a small office, holding the wall scroll that had been hanging in the lobby as a memorial for him. He smiled lightly at the different signatures and words that had been written, turning it every now and then as most comments were written at an angle, and some were almost impossible to read. So many people apologizing for ignoring him or bumping into him in the hallway…

"Eh. They knew who I was just from bumping into me in the hallway…" Matthew laughed, "I wonder if that was because of Cruz?" He glanced over, still not having found Cruz's signing. Did he sign it at all? Matthew tilted his head slightly, but found the small black lettering in the corner, "Oh there it is!"

_**Just wanted to say I loved you. –C**_

"…Eh?" Matthew felt his face turn bright red, "W-what? Waiiiiit, he has a girlfriend!" Matthew instantly dropped the scroll on the table in front of him and buried his face in his hands. _'Was I mistaken all along?'_ Matthew shook his head and peered through his fingers at the scroll again, the blush still burning his cheeks. He was definitely NOT going to be happy when he saw Matthew again. "Ehhh…" Matthew whimpered.

_**Matthew- You suck. When I get over there, I swear I will hit you so many times over the head. Every time I tried to show you I cared, you pushed me away! How many different ways do I have to show you for you to get it through your head? I'm gonna miss my little brother!**_

…

Thanks Alfred.

Matthew smiled. That made him feel better somehow. He looked over the different signatures again. Some just said RIP, and he recognized Roderich's name after one of them. Just like him to be too polite to only write on one or two of the wall scrolls. Matthew glanced back down at the corner Cruz had written in and went red again. "Ehhh…" He buried his face in his hands once more and shook his head frantically. _'They were going out, I'm sure of it! I overheard Cruz talking to the person sitting next to him!'_

"Mr. Williams, are you ready to go?" The principal peered in.

"Eh, yes." Matthew quickly stood up, taking the wall scroll with him, clutching it tightly like a security blanket.

Mr. Smith led him over to where the other three were already waiting, "Alright. Let me go out there and start this off. Oh. And NO wisecracks. Remember these people thought you were dead."

"I can't believe we're back here…" Gilbert whispered, "So unawesome…"

"Well all it'll take from you is another prank to get suspended right?" Arthur asked, his arms were crossed, and the scowl was back.

"Pft. Whatever." Gilbert waved him off.

Matthew leaned around the curtain to watch the principal give his speech, "I wonder how this is going to go…what are we saying?"

"No clue." Arthur sighed. He glanced over his shoulder and Matthew followed his gaze to see Lovino shaking behind him.

"Eh…" Matthew tilted his head.

"Cheer up man. You're not alone." Gilbert clapped him on the shoulder.

"I-I don't want t-to speak…" Lovino whispered through gritted teeth, "Damn it…"

Matthew gently laid his scroll down on the table, "Then who is going first?"

"Rock-paper-scissors?" Gilbert asked.

"No. I am not going first." Arthur said flatly, "And obviously Lovino isn't."

"Eh I guess it's me. Gilbert should be the comic relief at the end with his Ta-da." Matthew laughed.

"Sweet!" Gilbert pumped his fist into the air, "You all are gonna let me do it~"

"Fine, then I'll go second. Lovino are you going to be okay third?" Arthur looked over at the still-shaking Italian.

"Sure. I'll figure out something to say by then…" Lovino trembled.

Matthew returned his attention to the principal.

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Mr. Smith looked out over the crowd of students and parents that were once again gathered into the auditorium, "Students…family members. Once again I call you down here. I am sure the assembly is still fresh in your minds from the other day. The one that took four of your classmates away from you, and today, we are gathered here for that same reason."

"Not again." Cruz sank in his seat, "Don't tell me someone else did this."

Roderich made no comment in response.

"Dude. If someone else did this, I will scream." Alfred said, "Literally."

"That would almost be worth hearing." Antonio muttered, a far-off look in his eyes.

.

.

"Today is the day after, two of you know as the greatest prank ever to pull on this school. For me, it is the day after the most ridiculous prank ever to be pulled on this school." Mr. Smith said, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Eh…" Matthew tilted his head, "Those are two opposite ends of the reaction scale…"

.

.

"Two of you…" Roderich started, and looked at the other three, "So which of you decided to play hero?"

"Not me. I was stuck in the bathroom." Cruz said instantly.

"His idea." Antonio pointed at Alfred, "Not mine. I was protesting the whole way."

"Totally saved your records!" Alfred grinned.

"Thanks. A lot." Cruz grumbled, "Not like it could have possibly gotten any worse."

"Idiots." Roderich shook his head.

.

.

"But this prank was one of the most well-thought out that I have ever seen. Yesterday I had seven people down in my office, including a teacher, for acting out during class. Yesterday, I had seven reasons to believe that finally something happened in this school that promoted a positive change." Mr. Smith smiled a bit and glanced around the auditorium once more, still had everyone's attention.

"Eh…what prank?" Matthew whispered.

"It was awesome…" Gilbert laughed, "Roddy was shooting arrows at the school board!"

"He was WHAT?" Arthur barely kept himself from yelling.

"And so, today, we have four guest speakers to talk to all of you." Mr. Smith looked offstage in their direction.

"Wah…" Matthew whimpered, "Butterflies in my stomach." He looked towards the back of the stage and noticed it was darker. _'I'm hiding back there. They can turn on the lights if they really want them to see my face.'_

"If the first speaker would come out…" Mr. Smith called. Apparently the last phrase was supposed to be a hint.

Matthew sighed and quickly scurried out onto the stage, staying in the dark so no one in the audience would see him.

"Really?" Mr. Smith asked, looking at him blankly.

"Shut up." Matthew hissed, "You can turn on the lights when we're all out here."

"Fine then. Apparently I'm moving the microphone." Mr. Smith looked back towards the audience, "One moment." He picked up the mic stand and walked back to where Matthew was at and plopped it in front of him, "This speaker, is one who attended this school before, and wishes to speak out against the everyday behavior he noticed while being here."

'_I do?'_ Matthew took the microphone as it was handed to him and panicked, looking out at the audience. _'Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I can do this I can do this I can do this!'_ He tightly held onto the microphone and shook in one spot as he slowly started talking, making it up as he went.

"Um…so Mr. Smith said why I was here, and to tell you the truth, I'm beginning to realize that maybe over the last couple days while I was thinking about this, that maybe I was the one misunderstanding what other people were trying to do…" Matthew started, not at all surprised to see the look of shock on Mr. Smith's face with what he was saying.

.

.

"Who is talking?" Roderich whispered.

"No clue. The microphone alters the voice a bit doesn't it?" Antonio responded quietly.

Cruz tilted his head. _'I swear I know this voice. Even with that damn microphone.'_

.

.

"But at the time, I felt as though it was the most difficult thing that I would face. Getting up for school was not something I looked forward to every morning. It was something I dreaded. I absolutely detest gym class, because for some reason we can't play touch-tackle instead of full-out-push-the-other-person's-face-in-the-mud-tackle." Matthew continued on, his eyes searching the audience. He had found his mom and dad near the front row on the left side…well left side while he was facing out into the seats anyway.

Mr. Smith had to walk away so his laughing wasn't picked up by the microphone.

"Going to every class in the hallway by myself, and getting knocked into like we're playing bumper cars. Seriously, you all can slow down a bit…" Matthew sighed.

Mr. Smith, who had returned to the mic ended up walking away again, once again laughing.

"Just stay over there why don't you?" Matthew shot him a glare, causing a ripple of laughter to go through the students and parents. Matthew's face reddened and he went back to talking again, "But while I was thinking about everything I didn't like about school…I also remembered what I did like about it. I loved seeing my friends every day. I enjoyed talking to them, and the school lunches, despite the complaints, they could be much, much worse. You could be somewhere else and drink an entire bottle of gravy under the mistaken belief it's fruit juice." Matthew leaned forward to look off stage and saw Gilbert looked like he was just about dying with laughter, while Arthur and Lovino gaped at them both in shock.

.

.

"What?" Alfred gaped, "What kind of horrible place was this?"

"Oh my word. A bottle of gravy?" Antonio shuddered, "UGH!"

"That sounds like the lunches are an unspeakable horror." Roderich raised both eyebrows.

"This person sounds really familiar." Cruz stated flatly.

"Oh? Do you know who it is?" Roderich leaned forward.

"Yeah and if it is who I think it is, I am going to KILL THEM." Cruz scowled.

"Bad Cruz is back." Alfred laughed.

"Shut up." Cruz hit him over the back of the head. _'What the hell kind of a comment was that?'_

.

.

"So the lunches here really aren't all that much to complain about. They're edible at least. It's something to look forward to when you all get up in the morning." Matthew continued on, now turning his attention back to the audience.

"Was the food that bad?" Mr. Smith asked, coming back over.

"Well I know there is certainly a member of the audience who would have been outraged at what they called a hamburger." Matthew responded. He leaned forward again and saw Arthur was now the one who laughing.

"That sounds appetizing." Mr. Smith commented dryly.

"Imagine eating it." Matthew responded, "Anyway…there were some things coming to school that I didn't even realize I was looking forward to until I realized I couldn't come here any more. Even though the teachers have a monotone voice when they're talking…eh…no offense…"

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.

"It IS him." Cruz muttered, "I knew it." He glanced to his right, as he was sitting on the aisle seat, and noticed the other three hadn't heard him, they were laughing at what the speaker was saying. _'Matthew so help me when I see you…'_

.

.

"They really were putting us at their best interest, and trying to teach in a way they thought we would learn the subjects…even though we're never going to use it again. Unless we become a teacher of course. But that's a little redundant." Matthew looked to his right again as Mr. Smith walked away laughing for the third time, "Seriously, just stay over there."

He looked back out at the audience, giving an audible sigh, "But I didn't realize all of this then. I only saw what was upsetting me, and I didn't have the courage or strength to go to the guidance office, or to talk to my best friend about it. So I kept quiet. And that was probably the worst mistake I will ever make in my entire life."

.

.

Cruz sat up a bit. He was now fully focused on what Matthew was saying. _'Too bad there's not some way of giving him some encouragement…'_ He pulled out his cell phone, suddenly getting an idea and tapped in a text message. He wasn't really sure if Matthew would get it, but here's hoping.

.

.

"I know the assembly you all had on teenage suicide was hard to sit through. The speaker wasn't very…considerate about how he was talking. And there really wasn't much else to be done except react on it, and…everyone did just that. We all react differently to different situations. That's how I got where I was at for the past…almost a week." Matthew felt his phone going off and blinked. He dug it out and glanced at the message.

_**Nice to see your brother laugh again Matthew. Though I don't think he appreciated the hamburger comment, even if he has no clue who's speaking.**_

Matthew held the microphone away from him while he started laughing, but he quickly put his phone away and attempted to regain some self-control. "Maybe it was my fault for overreacting, but looking back at what I realized the past week…I wouldn't change anything if I had the chance to. Because this is probably the only way I would have learned what I have." Matthew looked over at Mr. Smith.

Mr. Smith nodded and took the microphone, "Next speaker?" He glanced to his right again and saw Arthur was already walking out, also staying in the dark. He handed off the microphone and stepped back again.

"Thanks for telling me about the gravy _after_ I drank it. I was sick because of that." Arthur glared at Matthew.

"No problem." Matthew smiled cheerfully, causing some fits of laughter from everyone in the audience. He watched as Arthur looked out over the audience. He seemed to be forcing himself to keep calm.

"Well the first speaker pretty much summarized what we all have been thinking the past few days. But seeing as how we're forced to speak…" Arthur looked over his shoulder at the principal.

Matthew started laughing again.

"Here we all have to stand, and you all have to sit there through this. My sincerest apologies." Arthur added, "I'm sure most of you would rather be in class right now. Some of you would rather be at home sleeping."

'_He sounds like the speaker from the other day.'_ Matthew smiled, but made no comment.

"And after listening to basically the same startup to a speech five days ago, I have to admit, I would much rather be here than anywhere else. And if anyone here ever has to take an emotional aptitude test, LIE." Arthur snapped, "Don't answer that thing honestly."

"Don't listen to that." Mr. Smith cut in, "I will take that soon." He motioned to the microphone.

"You would be doing me a favor." Arthur responded, but held onto the mic anyway, "So, the first speaker said it, where we were at was much worse than here I guarantee it. Though I notice you left out the wonderful sleeping arrangements." He looked back at Matthew.

"That only qualifies if someone was actually sleeping." Matthew muttered, but the microphone picked it up anyway.

"This is true." Arthur turned back forward again, "Apparently I'm the only one who got any sleep." Arthur shrugged.

.

.

'_Wow.'_ Cruz thought. _'Is this supposed to be a comedy act?'_ He looked over at Alfred, Antonio, and Roderich again and saw all of them were making faces. And probably thinking what the heck?

.

.

"But he was right. There are so many things at this school to look forward to, aside from gym class, I share his opinion on that. And the hallways, some people really do need to slow down, it's a school not a bloody racetrack." Arthur added.

'_I'm pretty sure it's obvious who he is right now.' _Matthew laughed, Arthur had let his tongue slip when talking and slipped into his accent for a moment.

"But the reason I stopped coming to this school, I realized, it wasn't worth getting myself depressed over. It's just one person out of countless more in the world, and as much as I do NOT want to admit it, my family is there, whether I like it or not." Arthur sighed.

Matthew had to walk away laughing after that.

"Like you should be laughing over there. You have the most over protective brother I have ever met in my life."

Matthew looked over and saw Arthur was glaring at him, and promptly burst out laughing again, as did the principal.

"So I'm rather glad I got the opportunity to attend somewhere else. There were classes there that opened my eyes, one in particular, but I refuse to comment on it. I'm still rejecting half the things they said. And I also discovered that there are people in this school who will contact someone by phone. No matter what time it is, no matter what the situation, they will call your phone. And they will leave a voicemail message that's over five minutes long."

Matthew clutched at his sides from laughing so hard, knowing full well who would leave that long of a voicemail on Arthur's cell phone.

.

.

Cruz watched the dark red blush going across Alfred's face, "Do you know who this speaker is?"

"Oh shut up." Alfred sunk in his seat.

Roderich and Antonio looked at both of them, confused. Cruz just smirked and waved cheerfully.

.

.

"But. I will thank that person anyway. Because without that voicemail, I wouldn't have realized the few things that I did." Arthur looked back at the principal.

Matthew stepped forward and took the mic for a moment, "Do not anger him when there's a yardstick within grabbing distance. He knows how to use one."

"Thank you for that." Arthur hit him over the head and handed the mic to the principal.

"Not even going to ask. Third speaker?" Mr. Smith sighed.

Matthew watched as Lovino slowly came out, trudging across the stage, "Eh. It's okay. It's safe."

"Shut it." Lovino hissed, grabbing the mic, "Okay, so I don't have much to say in addition to the first two who spoke up. But I will say, thanks to a relative who I can see already…that I am, unfortunately, grateful for the class he was teaching yesterday. Despite it being annoyingly long, I did learn something out of it, besides insults that I could use against him. The way you all reacted to that assembly, none of you did anything wrong."

Matthew noticed Arthur was nodding in silence. _'Eh? I wonder what he meant by that…'_

"I know some of you were laughing, and it really did make it sound like you were laughing at those who were suffering from depression, but you weren't. And I realize that now." Lovino sighed, "You all react the way you were taught to. Some of you laugh off situations that would otherwise make you feel uncomfortable or down…and that's fine. There's nothing wrong with that. Just…let people know around you that you're not laughing at them. Otherwise there's going to be someone out there that's going to blow it entirely out of proportion. Much like I did."

'_Oh…I guess he's referring to what he wrote in his letter.'_ Matthew remembered that Arthur had heard the letters before in the one class before he had gotten pulled out by the nurse. _'That would make sense.'_

.

.

Cruz leaned forward and saw Antonio was sitting with his head tilted slightly. _'I know he knows who it is…but his mind hasn't made the connection yet. Probably a good thing. He would be bounding out of the row and up onto the stage.'_

.

.

"The situation was what it was…none of you did anything wrong in responding to it. The speaker really did fail at some points in explaining, and that is why we're up here." Lovino looked back at Matthew and Arthur, "But at least we made some new friends out of this."

Matthew smiled cheerfully.

Lovino handed the mic back to the principal, "Have fun with the next speaker."

"Of course he would be last." The principal forced a smile, "Last speaker…don't make me regret this."

"Ja ja, whatever, gimme." Gilbert made his way around the back of the stage and held out his hand for the microphone.

Matthew clutched at his sides laughing.

"I mean it." Mr. Smith growled and handed him the mic before stepping away.

"Boy. Some people are stiff." Gilbert scoffed and held the microphone properly, "Ja, so we got to spend our time in the most boring place imaginable. I don't think I learned a single thing by attending any of the classes. And I certainly didn't learn anything at the lunch, though I know two other people learned how to read." Gilbert looked back at Arthur and Lovino.

Matthew continued laughing while Arthur and Lovino glared at Gilbert.

"I shall call you the gravy-drinker duo." Gilbert smirked and turned back to the audience, "But ja, despite all complaints about the totally inedible food, the annoying person who completely FAILED at being a counselor, I learned something anyway~"

Matthew looked up hearing a distinct: "HOW RUDE!" from the audience.

"I didn't even say it was you, shut up." Gilbert looked over towards the direction the voice had come from.

"Oh my word." Mr. Smith slapped the palm of his hand to his forehead, "I knew I was going to regret this."

Gilbert held the mic away from him, "You wanted us to speak. Be careful what you wish for." He looked back and held the microphone up again.

"Clearly a mistake on my part." The principal sighed heavily.

Gilbert stuck his tongue out at the principal before continuing on, "Ja, so really I didn't learn a single thing from that crap place we were at, other than there are totally three awesome people I've never spoken to at school behind me now~ and those beds suck there, but that's besides the point."

Arthur sighed heavily. Matthew continued laughing.

"Two nights ago was it? The night we didn't get any sleep whatsoever anyway. Ja, we had the most wonderful wake-up call, und I mean totally rude wake-up call when I say that. The most unappealing breakfast I have ever seen, I think the only thing edible was the sausage, the eggs probably were never from a bird at any point during their fake substitute lifetime." Gilbert was definitely having way too much fun with this.

Matthew smiled cheerfully. There was no need for them to make it depressing!

"Und after breakfast, as if it wasn't already downhill enough, I see you rolling your eyes Mr. Stiff. You know what's coming." Gilbert called, "I get a call to go to a conference room that I have absolutely no clue where it's at. And of course the hall monitor insisted on taking me down there herself, I don't know why, she could have just given me directions. Und for the first time in sixteen-completely-blissful-nothing-wrong-with-them years, I got to meet my huge stiff of a dad."

Matthew clapped a hand over his mouth to restrain himself from laughing so hard.

"I see you glaring by the way. Apparently that half of the family doesn't know how to have fun. Big Stiff und Little Stiff, and so help me if I hear that comment about Little Stiff being taller than me again."

.

.

"Hm. I think that was directed at me." Roderich commented.

"Is this for real?" Alfred asked, blankly staring at the stage.

"If it is, I'm running for the stage door after this." Antonio grumbled, sinking in his seat.

Cruz smirked.

.

.

"And despite all thoughts of absolutely not wanting to see the guy, I have to admit, it was _slightly_ nice to know that he had been looking for us all along. Even if I already knew that from overhearing a conversation in the hallway at school. Don't look so shocked, mutti." Gilbert waved towards the left side of the auditorium, "And despite the sarcastic conversation we had going back and forth, including some thoughts where I wanted to him with my metaphorical shovel…"

Matthew heard another distinct "HOW RUDE" from the audience again.

"Same to you." Gilbert retorted, "Anyway despite all that, it was nice to actually hold a conversation with him. And get the permanent look of shock off your face or I _will_ hit you with something physical." Gilbert snapped.

Mr. Smith just stood off to the side shaking his head with a heavy sigh.

"Und Big Stiff obviously doesn't listen to anything someone says, because despite my saying NO, loud and clear, und that I liked my life just the way it was, I still wake up in a hospital several hours later." Gilbert continued talking, ignoring the sigh from behind him, "So thanks to the completely unawesome-blank-faced-stiff-with-no-emotion-whatsoever, turns out I'm not going to be leaving this place early after all."

Matthew watched as Gilbert looked to the left side of the auditorium again.

"That's the face I was talking about." Gilbert started laughing, "Much better. Anyway, I'm done now." He looked back at the principal.

Matthew reached up and took the microphone from Gilbert, who looked rather surprised, as did the principal, "Eh. One last thing. I know there are quite a few people who realized who we are already, mostly from accents I'm sure." He looked back at Arthur and Gilbert. Arthur scowled and Gilbert stuck his tongue out at Matthew, "Mine included." He added and turned back front, "But, for those of you who haven't realized it yet, "Four days ago I faked my own death in the Mission for Change, my name is Matthew Williams." He looked back at the others, now standing in full light.

Arthur sighed and stepped forward, taking the microphone as well, "My name is Arthur Kirkland, I committed suicide for the Mission for Change."

"Four stupidly-long-days-ago, I committed suicide for the mission for change. Lovino Vargas." Lovino snapped, stepping forwards, and quickly handed off the mic.

'_His face is red.'_ Matthew resisted the urge to laugh, and also refused to look out at the audience. _'Is Gilbert going to say it?'_

"Ja, My name is Gilbert Beilschmidt, I pretended to die an early death in the Mission for Change." Gilbert looked over at the principal who was nodding, and held up the mic grinning, "But we are back again, TA-DA~"

Matthew just about fell on the stage from laughing so hard.

"How did I guess you were going to say something like that." Mr. Smith grabbed the microphone from Gilbert.

"You know me too well~" Gilbert laughed, "You're totally buying my lunch now, right?" He looked over at Arthur.

"Yes, yes." Arthur nodded, waving a hand around dismissively.

"I'm out of here!" Lovino hissed.

Matthew vanished back into the shadows and ran off stage. _'I'm not being stared at any more~'_ He was closely followed by Lovino, and Arthur. Gilbert just skipped off the stage.

"I can't believe that!" Arthur started laughing, "You actually said it!"

"Ja, of course." Gilbert smirked, "Principal doesn't like me already~"

Lovino sighed in quiet relief, "It's over…"

"Eh. We still have to make it through school today." Matthew looked over at him.

"Damn it." Lovino grumbled.

Matthew stepped out into the hallway with a sigh, taking his wall scroll with him. "Fresh-ah!" Matthew's face burned bright red when he realized he was in a tight hug, "Ehhhhh~"

"I have NEVER seen you run that fast!" Alfred's voice yelled from down the hall, "Geez!"

Gilbert wandered out and smirked at Matthew, who was being held onto by Cruz, "Und, how did that work out for you?"

"Oh shut up." Matthew blushed.

Arthur wandered out, "Hm? Why don't you want to-OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!"

Matthew laughed as he saw Arthur get tackled by Alfred.

"IGGY~" Alfred cheered.

"FOUR." Arthur got an arm free and hit Alfred four times over the head, "DO NOT CALL ME THAT! AND I AM NOT CUTE DAMN IT!"

"Owwww~ You were seriously keeping track!" Alfred cried, but held onto Arthur anyway.

Matthew watched as Lovino crept out of the door but from where he was at, he could see Antonio coming down the hall. Lovino however, could not. "Eh…Lovino…"

"Hm?" Lovino looked over just as he was tackled by Antonio, "GET OFF OF ME!"

"Never mind." Matthew looked away.

"Roddy~" Gilbert skipped up the hall to where Roderich was walking down.

Matthew looked up at Cruz and smiled sheepishly, "Eh, hello…"

"Don't do that again." Cruz grumbled.

"Not planning on it. Once was more than enough." Matthew laughed, "…" He watched as Lovino chased Antonio down the hallway, and Arthur was yelling at Alfred, "Eh…what happened to Maria?" He looked up at Cruz again.

"You mean souphead?" Cruz laughed, "Actually we broke up during the assembly the other day, remember my delicate phone conversation?"

"Eh." Matthew turned red. Well NOW he remembered it. Especially the threats IN the text message conversation, "That phone is something else…"

"Yeah, it is. So was the person holding onto the other phone. I swear you were trying to taunt me on purpose." Cruz commented, dryly, tightening his grip a bit.

"I-I wasn't…honest…" Matthew looked down at the floor. How could he have even forgotten about that? If he had remembered he would have run off in the other direction as fast as he could go (which didn't matter because the last time he checked in gym class, Cruz could run faster than him).

"You must've been in one hell of a mood then." Cruz grumbled.

"Eh…I can't really remember how I was feeling then." Matthew tilted his head slightly, "I remember thinking it was funny to see all the asterisks on the screen!"

"Yeah yeah. My stupid delicate phone that censors out certain words." Cruz sighed.

"And terms of violence." Matthew added, reddening again.

"I wasn't seriously going to hurt you." Cruz grumbled.

"Eh. It sounded like it." Matthew peeked up at him.

"Idiot." Cruz shook his head with another long sigh.

"It's hard to tell on a phone if the other person is annoyed angry or ticked off angry." Matthew whispered.

"There's a difference?" Cruz raised an eyebrow.

"With you, yes." Matthew laughed, "Annoyed is just yelling, ticked off is hitting."

"Well then I guess I was annoyed angry." Cruz shrugged, he peered down and Matthew noticed he was looking at the scroll that Matthew was still holding on to.

"Eh…" Matthew reddened a bit, "A lot of people I've never spoken to before signed it!"

Cruz reddened and looked away, "Did they?"

Matthew hesitated a bit, watching as Alfred dragged Arthur down the hallway, "…" Gilbert and Roderich were standing a little ways up the hall as well, far enough that Matthew couldn't hear what they were talking about anyway. And…Lovino and Antonio had vanished off into the distance somewhere.

Matthew glanced upwards up at Cruz again, "Did you mean that?"

"Why would I write it if I didn't mean it?" Cruz glared at Matthew, but the redness didn't go away.

Matthew smiled, "Eh. I don't know." He blushed again and looked away. Cruz still had yet to release his tight hold on Matthew, not that he was complaining.

"You know…" Cruz started.

Matthew looked up curiously.

"I had to go down to the office once already."

"Eh? What for?" Matthew panicked, "It wasn't for fighting, was it?"

"Yeah. Punched someone twice." Cruz nodded, he seemed rather…happy about it.

"Eh?" Matthew tilted his head, "Were they annoying you?"

"Quite." Cruz grumbled, "This time was good though. I even had a teacher and another student speak up in my defense."

"That's really good then! That means you're not in trouble, right?" Matthew smiled happily.

Cruz's turn to blush apparently, "Yeah I suppose. Though I'm still waiting for the fallout from yesterday to catch up."

"Yesterday?" Matthew blinked, "Oh Gilbert mentioned about Roderich shooting arrows…"

"He wasn't the only one." Cruz's face turned even more red.

"Eh!" Matthew stared up at him in shock, "What were you guys doing that for?"

Cruz moved one hand to rub the back of his head, "Dunno. Because we could."

"…" Matthew tilted his head again, "…eh…you risk getting suspended because you could?"

"Nah. There was a longer explanation but I don't remember all the words." Cruz glanced down the hallway. Matthew followed his gaze and saw Gilbert and Roderich were walking down the hall away from them.

'_I wonder if Gilbert's going to be okay at home after that speech…'_ Matthew bit his lip.

"Hm."

"Hm?" Matthew looked up, echoing the noise Cruz had made.

"Everyone seems to have left." Cruz blinked.

"Yeah. Alfred dragged Arthur someplace, Lovino was chasing Antonio, and they just walked off…" Matthew nodded, referring to Gilbert and Roderich as "they".

"Hm."

Matthew looked up at the repeated noise, "Eh?"

Cruz rubbed the back of his neck for a moment, his face was even redder than it was a minute ago. Matthew tilted his head again in confusion. _'Maybe he's wondering about Alfred not staying here? Eh, but I think Alfred wanted to talk to Arthur, and we can talk to each other at home.'_

Matthew blinked, suddenly realizing Cruz had shifted his position and had leaned in closer. _'E-eh….'_ Matthew felt his face turning red before Cruz even kissed him. Now however, his face was _bright_ red. He blinked several times before slowly (and somewhat forcing himself to) relaxing. He hadn't even paid much attention to when he had suddenly stiffened.

Opening one eye again upon hearing footsteps (and rather fast) he saw out of the corner of his eye: Arthur getting tackled by…some redhead, probably one of the brothers he had been talking about. The only thing keeping from laughing upon seeing Arthur suddenly getting a group hug, was the fact that Cruz was still keeping lip-contact with him. Matthew closed his eye again and smiled inwardly.

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><p>And that. My dear readers. Is the crappily-written end. I absolutely SUCK at writing romance. Use your imaginations. =.=; Leave me my final review~<p> 


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